The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) - issued its response to BEREC’s proposals for a mid-term strategy and its contribution to BEREC’s draft report on the promotion of broadband. On the mid-term strategy ECTA suggest that BEREC should make more pro-active efforts to monitor and enforce NGA competition rules. On NGN core networks, ECTA asks BEREC to assess the challenges that IP interconnection will pose for existing termination and to assess broadband competition challenges arising from the trend towards bundling of content with telecoms services. Moreover, ECTA believes that “Consumer empowerment” should primarily be viewed as an “enabler” rather than a substitute for competition. NRAs need to make clearer distinctions between residential consumers and large business customers when applying consumer protection rules.

See BEREC’s proposals for a mid-term strategy
Source: The European Competitive Telecommunications Association

Pakistan is home to some of the world’s most successful investors in emerging markets including Orascom (VimpelCom), Telenor, Etisalat , SingTel, China Mobile, Qatar Telecom, Omantel, etc. It has modern infrastructure of several International Submarine Cables linking Pakistan with the rest of the world. International bandwidth utilization in Pakistan is increasing progressively. Several international terrestrial links have been established with neighboring countries and more are on the cards. It has at least 4 fully redundant, self-healing Nat’l Fiberoptic networks. Fixedline, LDI and Cellular Operators have already geared themselves for NGN Deployments, a fully functional Mobile Number Portability and an effective UNIVERSAL SERVICE FUND for unserved markets. Pakistan is ready to benefit from the 3G/4G and LTE technologies for proliferation of broadband services due to a very limited existence of Fixed-line tele-density.

Government of Pakistan has decided to Auction more spectrum for the proliferation of Telecom and ICT services in Pakistan in-line with its recently announced policies of December 2011. The type of Licenses and the salient features are:

Mobile Cellular License (defunct) in 800Mhz band
Mobile Cellular License 3G/4G/LTE in 1900/2100 Mhz band
Salient Features of the 800 Mhz License Auction
— Technology Neutral Mobile Cellular License/ Spectrum for the remaining period of approximate 8 years
— Existing License against an available spectrum of 7.38 + 7.38 Mhz block
— Auction through ‘Multiple Round Open Outcry Method’
— Base Price (BP) = USD 155 Million
— Earnest Money = USD 23.25 Million (15% of BP)
— Successful bidder allowed to participate in Mobile Cellular 3G/4G/LTE License(s)/ Spectrum auction
Salient Features of the 3G/4G/LTE 1900/2100 Mhz License/Spectrum Auction.
— Auction through Multiple Round Open Outcry Method
— 3 technology neutral Mobile Cellular License/ Spectrum; 9.8 + 9.8 Mhz per block
— Base Price (BP) = USD 210 Million
— Earnest Money = USD 31.5 Million (15% of BP)
— A new entrant who has been determined as a successful bidder as a result of March 2012
Auction for Mobile Cellular License (defunct) shall be eligible to participate.
— Existing Cellular operators, are eligible to participate
— Successful Bidders will be offered spectrum for 15 years
— Existing Licenses shall be modified accordingly
— Existing Mobile Cellular License(s) shall be renewed on expiry of its existing term for the remaining duration of assigned spectrum
— All new prospective entrants eligible to bid and agree to start commercial operations after March 2013 may also participate in the auction.
— New License template is available in the IM
— Issued for 15 Years
— Renewable for another term on terms & conditions, as per GoP Policy

Prospective applicants, especially new players, can familiarize themselves with the telecom regulatory, institutional framework and encouraged to visit: www.pta.gov.pk 

All the relevant documents including the Information Memorandum for this auction are placed on PTA's website.

The Mexican government aims to promote high speed internet adoption in part by the sale of concessions which will allow the winning bidders to utilise state-owned fibre-optic lines and to build networks in those areas that currently do not have access to broadband services. According to Bloomberg, the initiative will see the government conduct auctions that will include contracts to use two fibre-optic lines from state-owned powerco Comision Federal de Electricidad (CFE), while bids will also be taken on the use of fibre links running on along the federal highway network

See Press Release
Source: TeleGeography

The European Commission has published a guide for public authorities managing EU funds on the strengths and weaknesses of different models of investment in high speed internet infrastructures. It provides advice to managing authorities and project promoters on the issues that should be considered when planning a public sector investment in broadband infrastructure. The guide is based on a detailed review of several broadband investment projects (mostly co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund).

See Guide to broadband investment
Source: Europe's Information Society Newsroom

ITU has released an interactive infographic tool showcasing the status of broadband deployment worldwide and the regulatory landscape for broadband. The tool runs with authoritative ITU data and allows visualizing latest broadband trends in an appealing and accessible format.

Try it now!

US mobile giant Verizon Wireless – the market’s largest wireless operator in terms of subscribers – has broken its silence on the controversial USD39 billion would-be merger between AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile USA, declaring that it sees no problem with the tie-up, as long as it does not involve increased regulation for the market as a whole. Speaking to Total Telecom at the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference in Barcelona, Francis Shammo, chief financial officer for Verizon, commented: ‘We have been very silent on this one. The reason we’ve been silent: we said there needs to be consolidation and as long as there is consolidation without regulation we don’t have an objection to it’.

See Press Release 
Source: Telegeography

Italian mobile operators instructed to cut termination rates by 40%. Italy's telecommunications regulator AGCOM has ordered the country's four mobile phone operators to lower by up to 40% the termination rates that they charge subscribers, following a request from the European Commission. In a statement posted on its website, AGCOM said tariffs must go down from between EUR0.025 and EUR0.035 on July 1, 2012 to EUR0.0098 on July 1, 2013. The operators concerned are Telecom Italia SpA, Vodafone Group PLC, Wind Telecommunicazioni SpA of VimpelCom Ltd. and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. A Societe Generale analyst said in a note the rate reduction had been anticipated although it was more aggressive than expected.

See Press Release 
Source: Total Telecom

South Korea’s largest mobile network operator in terms of subscribers, SK Telecom (SKT), has said that it has witnessed an increased demand for its fourth-generation services, the Korea Times reports. With SKT having inaugurated commercial Long Term Evolution-based (LTE-based) services in July 2011, company spokesperson Kim Ji-won noted: ‘We don’t have any big questions that 4G-based LTE will become the dominant competitive technology in the mobile industry by the end of 2012.’ Such is the confidence in the technology that the cellco has revealed that it now expects to complete its nationwide LTE rollout by April 2012, eight months ahead of its previously announced schedule. Such expansion is also expected to drive subscriptions further, with one unnamed SKT representative cited as saying: ‘When the LTE network is established in 84 cities around the country, subscription will grow explosively.’ SKT had previously indicated that it aimed to have signed up 500,000 customers to its LTE offerings by end-2011, and it is thought likely that it will achieve this target; SKT currently has around 260,000 LTE subscribers, and one out of three of its new subscribers are opting for 4G tariffs, accounting for around 15,000 new LTE customers every day.

See Press Release
Source: Telegeography

The European Commission  launched two public consultations related to access for alternative operators to the fixed telephone and broadband networks of established operators. The consultations are part of Commission efforts to boost the Single Market for telecoms services by ensuring consistent and coherent approaches to regulating telephone and broadband networks in all Member States. The first consultation concerns non-discriminatory access for alternative operators to the infrastructure and services of dominant telecom operators. The second concerns the way national regulators calculate prices that operators have to pay for this wholesale access (cost-orientation remedies). The results will help the Commission to draft Recommendations for a consistent, investment-friendly application of non-discrimination and price control remedies. Neelie Kroes, European CommissionVice President for the Digital Agenda said "We need regulatory consistency in all Member States to ensure a level playing field for telecoms across the whole EU, in which competition and investment can thrive. This will reassure markets that putting money into fibre networks is a safe and profitable investment."

See Press Release

Source: Europa