Germany’s network regulator, the Federal Network Agency (FNA), has lowered the monthly fee that incumbent telecoms operator Telekom Deutschland (TD) can charge rivals for using its lines connecting homes and businesses to the local telephone exchange, known as the ‘last-mile’. The FNA has made a preliminary decision that the rate will fall to EUR10.08 (USD15.3) per month from today (1 April 2011), from the previous fee of EUR10.2. The FNA also lowered the fee for local loop unbundling (LLU) access to a street cabinet from EUR7.21 to EUR7.17. The new rates are subject to national and European Union (EU) consultation procedures, with a final decision expected by the end of the second quarter of 2011. 

See Press Release 
Source: TeleGeography

 

Nigeria's second national carrier, Globacom, has emphasised its readiness to launch its international submarine cable, Glo 1, touted as the solution to Nigeria and West Africa's bandwidth requirements, in March 2009.

Globacom, in a statement last week, said the 9,500 kilometre state-of-the-art cable would enable it to have a clear distinction in providing quality services through multiple and high quality direct links to several countries across the globe. It added that the cable would enable it to interconnect with several international networks and leading traffic carriers all over the world.

See Press Release
Source: Balancingact-africa

Bid No: MCIT/ Construction of 25,000 lines CCN for 7 cities/ Kabul/ 2008 (Closing Date: Jun 15, 2008)

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) has received funds in its core development budget through Ministry of Finance and it intends to apply part of it to payments under the contract for expansion of copper cable network in Afghanistan.

MCIT invites sealed bids from eligible bidders for construction of 25,000 lines copper cable network in 7 new cities of Afghanistan. The contract is for complete work as a turn key project, including survey, planning, providing detailed design, supplying cables and necessary equipments, transportation, complete implementation and testing on single responsibility basis.

See Tender
Source: Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dr. Tarek Kamel and that of Local Development General Abdel-Salam Mohamed Mahgoub witnessed today the signing of a cooperation agreement between National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) and Local Development Ministry on the second landline network operations.

The agreement aims to set and unify the procedures of carrying out the operations required for establishing the second landline network infrastructure across Egypt.

See Press Release
Source: National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority - NTRA

Two mediation requests concerning the compliance of cable agreements were brought before ARCEP: one by the city of Hayange on 16 January 2008, and another by the combined district council of Freyming-Merlebach on 23 January. In both cases, the difficulties encountered by the communities concern the issue of provision by Numéricâble, the cable operator and party in the agreements, of documents and information on the cable network, in particular the location and availability of network infrastructures. In the Freyming-Merlebach case, they also concern the provision of information regarding the use of the service.

See Press release
Source: ARCEP

Como un paso adelante en la competencia de los servicios de telecomunicaciones que finalmente beneficiará a los usuarios, calificó la ministra de Transportes y Comunicaciones Verónica Zavala Lombardi al nuevo BackBone (red) de Fibra Optica de la Costa Norte inaugurada esta mañana en San Juan de Miraflores por el presidente de la República, Alan García Pérez.

El BackBone es una red de fibra óptica desarrollada por la empresa Internexa S.A., instalación desplegada sobre 1,200 kilómetros de red eléctrica que beneficiará a cinco regiones del país: Ancash, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Piura y Tumbes. A partir de ahora, dijo Zavala Lombardi, en las ciudades de la Costa norte se podrá brindar el servicio de transporte para los operadores de telecomunicaciones, con lo cual éstos podrán desarrollar proyectos de internet de banda ancha, telefonía y otras modalidades de transmisión de datos.

See Press Release

Source: Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones - MTC

The Australian Communications and Media Authority has directed the licensee of Perth youth community radio station Groove FM to take steps aimed at ensuring compliance with the additional conditions of the station’s community broadcasting licence. On 5 July 2007 ACMA found that the licensee, Youth Media Society of Western Australia, had failed to comply with additional conditions ACMA imposed on its licence in May 2006.

The directions are issued under new enforcement powers conferred on ACMA in February 2007, to enable it to more effectively address contraventions of the Broadcasting Services Act 1992. It is the first time the power to issue a remedial direction has been used in relation to a community broadcasting licensee. Contravening a requirement of a remedial direction issued by ACMA is an offence under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992, and a penalty of up to $5,500 per day may be imposed. Full Press release

Source: ACMA, Australia

On 4 September 2007 ITU has released a major publication, Trends in Telecommunication Reform: the Road to NGN. This is the 8^th of a series of reports focusing on the ongoing transformation in the telecom/ICT sector to inform regulators and policy makers around the world.

During the past week, the report got news coverage by numerous leading national and international media, witnessing the interest of the ten chapters of research and analysis dedicated to issues related to the transition towards Next Generation Networks (NGN). You can find links to some of the news reports in the attached document.

More information about the 2007 report is available at the “On the Road to NGN” website.

The publication is available for sale at the ITU bookshop.

Geneva, 4 September 2007 — ITU has released a major publication, Trends in Telecommunication Reform: the Road to NGN. In its 8th edition, Trends reports on the evolution of circuit-switched telecommunication into "next-generation" networks, as operators around the world fight to remain competitive. The Report aims at enabling regulators and policy-makers in developing countries to better understand the changes transforming the ICT sector so they can evolve their policy and regulatory frameworks to leverage today’s technological and market developments.

What does NGN mean for regulators? They have many choices to make. Some view NGN as the intersection of the telecom and Internet worlds. If so, which regulatory regime should apply? The current heavily-regulated telecom regulatory model? The lightly-regulated Internet model? Or some new hybrid model? The migration to NGN affords an opportunity for regulators to analyze current practices and revise them in light of what makes sense going forward. This Trends report offers a detailed discussion of the kinds of measures that are needed to ensure that regulation keeps pace with technological and market developments so that the best of NGN is available to all of the world’s people.

The ITU press release is available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

More information about the content of the 2007 report is available at the “On the Road to NGN” website.

The publication is available for sale at the ITU bookshop.

Incorporated owners and building managers are advised by the Office of the Telecommunications Authority ("OFTA") to check and, if necessary, upgrade their In-building Coaxial Cable Distribution Systems ("IBCCDS") for reception of Digital Terrestrial Television ("DTT") signals, if their buildings are located in the initial coverage area of DTT broadcasting, which will be launched later this year.

According to the implementation framework earlier announced by the Government, Asia Television Limited ("ATV") and Television Broadcasts Limited ("TVB") shall start simulcasting of both DTT and analogue TV programmes by the end of 2007. At service launch, ATV and TVB's DTT service will be transmitted by the main transmission station at Temple Hill and it will cover the Kowloon peninsula, northern Hong Kong Island, Shatin and eastern Lantau Island. Full Press release

Source: OFTA, Hong Kong

The Australian Communications and Media Authority today declared protection zones around two submarine telecommunications cables of national significance off the coast of Sydney, NSW. The protection zones will take effect on 1 October 2007.

Activities that could damage the cables are restricted or prohibited within protection zones, and significant criminal penalties apply for breaches of the legislation.

These are the first such protection zones to be declared and are the culmination of extensive consultation over the past 12 months with affected and potentially affected parties. ACMA has established a new international benchmark by creating protection zones that safeguard submarine cables and place appropriate restrictions on other activities occurring in their vicinity. Full Press Release

Source: ACMA, Australia

Cable has operated under a special legal regime since its beginning. The law of 9 July 2004 on electronic communications and audiovisual communication services established the principle of bringing agreements signed between territorial units and cable operators into compliance with the legislative framework in force, setting1^st July 2006 as the deadline. However, by that date, most agreements had not been modified, due to a lack of agreement between the players.

The law of 5 March 2007 on the modernisation of audiovisual broadcasting and the television of the future established the process which would lead to the agreements being brought into compliance. The law makes ARCEP responsible for drafting a public report on the conformity of cable agreements.

The legislator wanted this report to:

• determine the state of advancement of the compliance of the agreements

• distinguish between the main legal categories of the agreements

• make recommendations to guarantee their compliance

Work has already begun with Avicca (Association des Villes et Collectivités pour les Communications électroniques et l’Audiovisuel) and Noos-Numéricâble.

ARCEP wishes to involve all interested players in this process. They are invited to submit any information they feel ARCEP should know (agreements, addenda) as well as their technical, legal and economic analyses to: report-cable@arcep.fr

ARCEP will hold a public consultation based on a pre-report during the month of June, for a period of two weeks. The final report will be published in early July.

Source: ARCEP, France