Bhutan Information Communications and Media Authority (BICMA) has awarded the country’s second national cellular licence to local industrial conglomerate the Tashi Group. Tashi beat three other firms with its offer of BTN777 million (USD17.5 million). It must launch its first commercial services within a year. The other short-listed bidders were all local firms partnered with foreign telcos: the Singye Group and Druktel teamed up with two Indian telcos, Reliance and Airtel respectively, while Bhutan Steel formed a bidding consortium with ShinSat of Thailand. The country’s current monopoly cellular operator B-Mobile, which is a subsidiary of state-owned Bhutan Telecom, had around 70,000 subscribers at the end of September.

Source: Telegeogaphy

The NTC has allocated the prefix of 06 mainly for providing the VoIP service from phone to phone, including other new telecom-technology services, under its interim numbering plan. The phone-to-phone VoIP service will use the 06 prefix, followed by an eight-digit number. The regulator is expected to introduce the official numbering plan next month.

The operators of the phone-to-phone VoIP service will also be subject to the NTC interconnection charge regime, which requires all telecom operators to share voice and data revenues between the networks involved in the calls on a fair basis. VoIP technology allows free or cheap calls to anywhere in the world via an IP channel rather than a telephone network.

Among the existing providers of VoIP services from personal computer to personal computer and personal computer to phone include CAT Telecom, True Internet and TT&T.

Meanwhile, the NTC has yet to grant a licence to ACeS Regional Service (ARS) to operate a satellite-based cellular service.

Sudharma said the company had operated a satellite-based cellular service under a CAT concession and now wanted to comply with NTC regulations.

Sudharma said the NTC needed to examine first whether it could award the licence to ARS, which used an Indonesian satellite to offer the service. The NTC has also yet to grant a licence to Shin Satellite to offer an international Internet gateway (IIG) service, pending further study of the application details.

IIGs serve as a channel for local Internet service providers to connect or exchange traffic with global Internet networks.

Source: NTC, Thailand

Moldovan regulator the National Agency for Regulations of Telecommunications and Information has announced that the closing date for bids for the country’s third GSM licence will be 20 December 2006. The fee for the concession, which will cover the whole of Moldova and will be valid for 15 years, has already been set at USD8 million. Both domestic and foreign firms are invited to participate in the tender, which will take place in two stages.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, two cellcos, Voxtel and Moldcell, already operate in the country, serving 1.1million subscribers between them at June 2006. A third operator, Moldtelecom, was issued with a CDMA licence in June, and intends to launch services by the end of the year.

Source: Telegeography

ANACOM has granted authorisation to Refer Telecom – Serviços de Telecomunicações, to use channels 878.6-923.6 MHz and 879-924 MHz for the purposes of carrying out technical trial and demonstrations of GSM-R technology, which will take place in Sacavém and Oriente Station in Lisbon. This authorisation follows a request made by the company and is applicable until the end of 2006.
 
The granting of this authorization does not imply any commitment, obligation or constraint regarding the future allocation by ANACOM of rights to use frequencies in Portugal reserved for GSM-R technology.
 
ANACOM will accompany the trials and have access to their conclusions, both from a technological standpoint and also in terms of the effective market potential of services based on these technologies.

Source: ANACOM, Portugal

The Honourable Maxime Bernier, Minister of Industry, announced that the government has varied a decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The government is calling on the CRTC to refrain from economic regulation of certain Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) services.

"Canada's telecommunications landscape has changed dramatically in recent years, and it's time for our regulatory approach to evolve as well," said Minister Bernier. "A more competitive environment will translate into greater choice, newer products and better services for the Canadian consumer." [...]

Source: Industry Canada.

The National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC) organised, at its headquarters, the opening of the offers for the installation of telecentres in 123 more rural localities launched for tender in September 2006. The following companies submitted offers for the installation of telecentres in the 32 counties: S.C. 2 K Telecom S.R.L., S.C. TV Adler Trading S.R.L., S.C. Celesta S.R.L., S.C. Orange Romania S.A., S.C. Rartel S.A., the National Radio-Communications Company S.A., S.C. Sensolink S.R.L., S.C. Vodafone Romania S.A. ANRC will analyse the offers submitted by the eight providers and will designate, by December 2006, at the latest, the Universal Service Provider for each locality. Each winner will have the obligation to install, in the locality or localities for which he has been designated, one telecentre where all the inhabitants of the respective village may initiate and receive national and international telephone calls, facsimile and Internet services.

Source: ANRC, Romania

Japanese mobile operator NTT DoCoMo, the wireless arm of incumbent fixed line operator NTT, says it has received regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, clearing its 100% acquisition of Guam Cellular & Paging, Inc (Guam Cellular) and Guam Wireless Telephone Company, LLC (Guam Wireless). According to DoCoMo, the agreement was concluded on 20 March this year for an agreed sum of USD71.8 million.

Under the terms of the deal, DoCoMo will buy all the outstanding equity of Guam Cellular through an established holding company, after which it will move to buy Guam Wireless through Guam Cellular and subsequently merge the two companies. In addition, DoCoMo has promised to provide funds of up to USD6.5 million to expand and upgrade the enlarged company’s facilities and infrastructure. As a result of the deal DoCoMo will be able to offer an improved service to the large number of Japanese travellers who visit Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands each year. Local inhabitants will also benefit from improved services such as an improved GSM network with a GPRS overlay. In the future the new Japanese owner says it hopes to introduce a W-CDMA network for 3G services utilising frequency owned by Guam Cellular.

Source: Telegeography

The Canadian government will announce today its intent to rewrite the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s (CRTC's) ruling on Internet-based telephone services, in a highly unusual move that could mark a big step toward a more open and consumer-friendly sector. According to local daily The Globe & Mail, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier is expected to say in a speech today that the Conservative government will once again block the CRTC's repeated efforts to regulate VoIP services. Mr Bernier and the CRTC are both trying to foster competition in the VoIP market, but have different ideas about how best to do so. The minister, a staunch advocate for free markets, wants to let consumers determine the winners and losers, while the regulator wants to approve prices for internet-based telephony in the same way it does for conventional phone services.

More than a year ago, the CRTC announced it would regulate the rates the incumbent telcos charge for VoIP, in the same way as it does them in the local phone market. The CRTC argued that the move would protect smaller providers. But the telcos appealed the decision in the courts, arguing that their competitors didn't have to operate under the same restrictions. Instead of backing the regulator, Mr Bernier surprised industry observers in May by telling the CRTC to take another look at its decision. The commission, however, responded last month by holding firm to its earlier ruling, although it added that it would reassess the ground rules for how long the broader retail phone market should continue to be regulated. The CRTC had earlier ruled that major phone companies can escape CRTC pricing regulations only when they can show that they have lost 25% market share to alternative providers.

Source: Telegeography

Malaysia’s first WiMAX licences will not now be issued until sometime next year, according to local news sources quoting Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) indefinitely postponed its tender for the licences in July 2006. The tender, covering the 2.3GHz-2.4HGz bands, was halted under order from the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications (MEWC), because the terms of the bidding, set by the MCMC, were not in line with the MEWC's own licensing regulations, most notably in terms of the roll out of infrastructure. The MCMC later said it would not relaunch the tender, opting instead to stick with the submissions it has already received from 17 companies, including DiGi Telecommunications, Maxis Communications, MiTV Corp, REDtone International and NasionCom. The MCMC had originally intended to announce the winners by 31 October, but has yet to provide a revised timetable for issuing the concessions or confirm how many licences will be granted. It has requested that all applicants re-submit their applications outlining nationwide business plans, as it will not grant concessions to companies looking to roll out only regional services. The government has said it will offer as many as four WiMAX licences, though it may only distribute two concessions in the first tranche.

Source: Telegeography

Spain’s Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT) has ruled that customers of mobile operator Euskatel Móvil may choose to transfer their services to either of the company’s co-owners, regional operator Euskaltel or France Télécom España (FTE), according to website EiTB24. Euskatel and FTE have been engaged in a bitter feud over the 460,000 customers of the Euskatel Móvil joint venture. Euskaltel is the largest alternative provider of fixed line telecoms service in the autonomous Basque region of northern Spain. In 1997 it struck an agreement with FTE (then known as Amena) to brand all FTE's mobile services as Euskaltel Móvil in the Basque region. FTE took a stake in Euskaltel in return and the service was launched in January 1998. The agreement expires in early 2007 and the two companies were thought to have been in discussion to extend it and collaborate on the launch of 3G services. However, in September Euskaltel instead signed an agreement with FTE’s rival Vodafone Spain. The Vodafone agreement will replace the FTE deal and allow for Euskaltel Móvil to operate MVNO services nationwide over Vodafone’s network from January 2007. Euskaltel Móvil wanted to transfer all 460,000 of its current customers to Vodafone’s infrastructure at that date, but FTE claimed it had rightful ownership of the subscriber base and wanted them transferred to its Orange service, which it recently launched in the Basque region. The CMT now says Euskaltel Móvil clients will automatically become Orange customers unless they apply to have their mobile number ported to Euskaltel’s Vodafone-based service. All customers will have the right to transfer regardless of the original duration of their contract.

Source: Telegeography

Ukraine's National Commission on Communications Regulation (NCCR) has refused to issue licenses for 3G services to four mobile operators – Kyivstar, Ukrainian Mobile Communications (UMC), Astelit and Ukrainian Radio Systems (URS). The reason given for the refusal was that the cellcos failed to reach an agreement with military bodies on joint usage of UMTS frequencies. Ukraine’s only 3G licensee is state-owned fixed line operator Ukrtelecom, which received its concession without auction in late 2005. Ukrtelecom is currently constructing its 3G network in partnership with Finland's Nokia. Yesterday it announced that it expects to launch the network in March 2007, and aims to grab 10% of the mobile market by focusing mainly on the corporate segment.

Source: Telegeography

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has warned telecom operators to improve services rather than concentrating solely on generating revenue. The regulator feels that customers have now had enough of paying for unreliable network performance, and it is considering regulation to improve the standard of service in the industry. Operators retorted by saying how much they had achieved in five years, and that subscribers should be more appreciative of their efforts!

Source: Telegeography

The Commission initiates a proceeding to consider a revised definition of essential service, and the classifications and pricing principles for essential and non‑essential services made available by incumbent telephone companies, cable carriers and competitive local exchange carriers to other competitors at regulated rates (wholesale services). The proceeding will include an oral hearing to be held in Gatineau, Quebec starting in October 2007.

Source: CRTC.

Malaysia will issue two licenses to telecommunication operators next year to provide fourth generation wireless high speed Internet services, a senior minister has told AFP. Lim Keng Yaik, energy, water and communications minister said the government hoped the winning bidders will roll out the WiMAX network nationwide in 2007.

The government in July cancelled the original tender for the WiMAX 2.3 gigahertz spectrum, saying that the specifications were not in line with the ministry's policy. Lim has said the government hopes to issue up to four licences.

The original tender had attracted bids from 17 companies, including Malaysia's top communications firm Maxis Communications and DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd.

Source: Yahoo News Asia.

Thailand’s Information and Communication Technology Ministry has announced ambitious plans to invest THB35 billion (USD954 million) to upgrade the country's telecoms network. In a statement the ICT Minister Sitthichai Pokaiyaudom said the PSTN would soon be ‘obsolete’ and that it needed an urgent overhaul if it was to keep pace with private operators that are investing heavily in new technologies. According to The Nation, the government says it plans to spend THB20 billion to develop Thai Mobile’s network and a further THB15 billion to expand and improve CAT’s CDMA infrastructure.

Source: Telegeography

The Honduran government is considering plans to allow its state telecom operator Hondutel to receive subsidies to enter the domestic mobile market, writes BNamericas citing local daily Hondudiario. The paper reports that the subsidy proposal appears in a draft bill designed to prepare the telco for the advent of competition, and in particular focuses on enabling the would-be mobile start-up to compete on an equal footing with the existing mobile operators. Honduras is reforming its telecoms law to allow new operators to compete in the mobile market, but Hondutel, which received approval to launch wireless services back in January 2004, failed to meet its own target launch of December 2005 and is not now expected to enter the market before the middle of next year. However, sceptics point out that the company would need a cash injection of around HNL950 million (USD50 million) to get a service off the ground, and this could be undermined by the government which has been guilty in the past of siphoning off the company’s profits for other purposes.

Source: Telegeography

Network World magazine recently conducted the largest ever WiFi performance and scalability test. The test was conducted using VeriWave's WaveTest 90 performance analysis system. The Findings from this test appear in this week's issue of Network World.

Network World commissioned leading test lab Network Test to conduct the assessment. A comprehensive WLAN test methodology was designed in order to evaluate performance and scalability using real-world metrics. These metrics included throughput, latency, VoIP call capacity, and roaming. The test setup consisted of twenty-five WLAN access points (APs), with accompanying switches and controllers from each participating vendor and VeriWave's WaveTest 90 system. VeriWave's WLAN Benchmarking, Roaming, and VoIP/QoS Test Suites measured throughput, (determining the maximum forwarding rate each system under test could sustain with zero packet loss), roaming delays, and voice quality (as defined by ITU-T standards and represented as MOS or R-Value scores). See http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2006/110606-wifi-test-how.html .

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) today issued a call for organisations to bid for the "Centralised Database Administrator" role as part of the country's move towards True Number Portability from the fourth quarter of 2007. The IDA's Request For Proposal (RFP) seeks an operator-neutral administrator, to be appointed in early 2007. Consumers have welcomed the True Number Portability solution, with the expectation of greater service and choices in the telecoms market. The move towards True Number Portability will spur greater competition and growth in the liberalised telecoms market, which sees mobile penetration of more than 100 per cent today. The Centralised Database Administrator will be required, for a start, to develop a centralised database system that will inter-work with the fixed line and mobile services providers to enable the provision of number portability services to all end-users in Singapore. The appointed Centralised Database Administrator will also operate the centralised database system for seven years from the launch of True Number Portability.

Source: IDA, Singapore.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and the International Telecommunication Union have agreed today to collaborate in developing a new executive training programme in the area of information and communication technology (ICT) policy and regulation. A Letter of Intent was inked today, following a call for such a collaboration in a speech made earlier this week by Dr Lee Boon Yang, Singapore's Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Antalya (Turkey), currently in session 6-24 November 2006. It is intended to provide this executive programme through Singapore's e-Government Leadership Centre."This programme is expected to enable Singapore to share our experience in deploying ICT for the public, private and people sectors," said Dr Lee. "We are very happy to collaborate with ITU to help developing countries catalyse their ICT developments to bridge the Digital Divide". He added that Singapore, with 25 years of experience in developing ICT, is fully aware of the benefits it can bring to social and economic development. "The e-Government Leadership Centre provides a collaborative learning experience. Participants would have the opportunity to study and analyse the Singapore model and to derive relevant strategies for their own country's ICT development," Dr Lee said. See http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/marketing/index.jsp

Tajikistan mobile operator Tacom has launched commercial 3G services over a network supplied by Huawei Technologies, the Chinese vendor said in a statement. In May 2006 Tacom contracted Huawei to supply GSM and W-CDMA mobile equipment for the expansion of its GSM network and the launch of 3G services. Details of the network have not yet been revealed, but Tacom’s Russian parent Vimpelcom had earlier stated that Huawei would initially supply ‘about 80’ GSM base stations, ‘several’ W-CDMA base stations and a switchboard. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Tacom holds licences to provide GSM-900/1800, CDMA-450 and AMPS services across Tajikistan, as well as the country's third UMTS concession, which it received in September 2005. Vimpelcom plans to invest USD100 million in Tacom in 2006, with much of the money to be spent on expanding its networks and rebranding the service under the Beeline banner which it employs in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

Source: Telegeography

Indonesia’s dominant telecoms company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) says it will take part in the country’s proposed fibre-optic network construction tender which is valued at USD1.5 billion and expected to be launched in October next year. Telkom managing director Arwin Rasyid confirmed his company’s interest, adding he was still considering the best options for Telkom to take part in the process. Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, Rasyid said: ‘Whether or not we form a consortium, Telkom will certainly play a large role in constructing the fibre-optic network’, adding that one aim would be to increase the capacity of the incumbent’s network at the same time to support increased demand both for itself and its subsidiaries such as mobile arm Telkomsel and PT Telkom Vision, a pay-TV broadcast provider.

Source: Telegeography

H H The Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, issued Law No 34 of 2006 that for the first time enables the introduction of competition into Qatar’s telecommunications Sector. The new law ends the current telecom monopoly and will come into effect from the date of publishing in the official gazette. Source: Qatar Supreme Council on Information and Communication Technology, see http://www.ict.gov.qa/en/News/telecomlaw.aspx

Government decision to regulate payment for incoming and outgoing international telephone traffic comes under challenge as Econet Wireless and Telecel, the two private mobile phone service providers, today seek a High Court order blocking control of the gateway system. The Government recently introduced a statutory instrument to stop the multi-gateway system, which allows many avenues for both incoming and outgoing international traffic, to ensure accountability by private operators in the industry. The regulation was supposed to start operating last Wednesday. However, Econet approached the High Court last week seeking an interim order against the Government, pending its application challenging the constitutionality of the new regulation to be filed at the Supreme Court within two weeks.

Source: The Herald. See: http://allafrica.com/stories/200611061165.html.

KCC declared on 27 October that Vtel consortium, a Dubai based firm, has won the bid for the Second National telecommunications Operator (SNO) licence. Vtel’s financial bid of US$169.6m emerged the highest out of the firms that had qualified at the technical stage. Vtel beat Mahanagar Telephone Kenya’ s bid of US$52.1m and Reliance K. consortium’s offer of US$11.03m to bag the SNO tender. Vtel consortium is made up of Unitel Kenya, Kirinyaga Construction Company, Paltel and Vtel Holdings. Vtel CEO Nour Atout commended the Commission for conducting the tender process above board, and assured Kenyans of quality services. Directors of the two other companies also hailed the Commission, saying they were satisfied with how the process had been conducted. CCK Director-General Eng John Waweru said the race for the licence was very competitive with the bidders determining their positions from their financial quotations. He said the winning bidder would be expected to submit a performance bond within the next 21 days. Vtel consortium is also expected to formally apply for the licence using the prescribed application form. “The application should be made by a locally registered company with the structure and composition being similar to what the consortium presented in the initial bid. The licensed company must also be in conformity with the policy direction on investing in the industry; at least 30 per cent shareholding should be Kenyan,” Eng. Waweru said. The licence will be issued in January 2007 after the consortium pays the entire bid amount. See http://www.cck.go.ke/html/news.asp?newsid=191&area=new

Uganda's Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) on 1 Nov. completely liberalised its telecommunications infrastructure provisioning. The UCC said: "For purposes of providing a holistic licensing environment (services and infrastructure), the ministry of ICT has decided to open up the infrastructure market to full competition." The commission said that as part of the liberalising, all players would be issued the same licence. See: Balancing Act

We are please to announce the seventh annual Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR), organized by the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in collaboration with the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the United Arab Emirates (TRA). The Symposium will be held at the Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates from 5 to 7 February 2007 and will be chaired by Mr. Mohamed Al Ghanim, Director General, TRA.

Additional information can be found at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/gsr07.html

Digicel Group has announced that it has acquired the Guyanese mobile operator TWT Guyana, which operates under the brandnames U-Mobile and Celstar. The acquisition was a surprise, given that it had been expected that Digicel would be awarded the country’s third wireless licence to operate in competition with TWT and the Guayana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T). Indeed, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, President Jagdeo announced back in August that he would award Digicel a national GSM licence, but no date was given as to when the concession would actually be awarded, nor were any terms revealed.
GT&T held a ten-year monopoly on the mobile market in Guyana which ended in February 2001 when TWT Guyana, a division of US-based Trans World Telecom (TWT), was awarded a GSM-900 concession. However, GT&T's exclusivity actually lasted much longer than could have been expected, and it was not until December 2004 that TWT actually managed to get services off the ground thanks to a series of delaying regulatory issues. In June 2003 the newcomer took a step forward by signed a roaming agreement with GT&T, giving it use of the latter's network in areas where it had not rolled out its own, but five months later the contract was deemed invalid because of a dispute over TWT's ownership. In February 2004 the Court of Appeal said there was no case to be answered, freeing TWT once more to negotiate commercial terms for roaming.TWT’s launch finally took place at the end of 2004, and the company has since begun to challenge GT&T by focusing on the youth market.

Source: Telegeography

Belarusian national fixed line telephony provider Beltelecom and Russian national long-distance telecoms operator Rostelecom yesterday announced the completion of a project to link their respective fibre-optic cable networks, providing additional access between the two countries. The pair say they have completed Phase 1 of the project which includes the linking of a fibre-optic cable between Yartsevo in Russia and Velizh on the state border to Vitebsk in Belarus. The throughput capacity of this high speed terrestrial link – based on DWDM and STM technology – will be 400Gbps with the ability to upgrade in the future. The Yartsevo-Vitebsk cable is the second broadband link between Russia and Belarus.

Source: Telegeography

Jordan Telecom is planning to acquire a 50% stake in Bahrain-based fixed-line operator Lightspeed Communications in 2007, according to its Chairman Shabib Ammari. This marks the first phase in its international expansion plans, with some US$300mn set aside to buy stakes in other Middle East telecom and internet operators, as it diversifies its revenues away from its highly competitive domestic telecoms market. Jordan Telecom's mobile unit MobileCom has been overtaken in terms of subscriber numbers by rival foreign-owned mobile operators in the sector, with Kuwait's MTC acquiring a user base of 2.364mn as of June 2006 through its Fastlink Jordan mobile unit. In comparison, MobileCom managed just 1mn over the same period. Struggling in both the fixed-line and mobile markets has led the operator to predict flat profits for FY06 on par with its 2005 earnings of JOD86mn (US$121.4mn).

Source: BMI Research

ARCEP is asking players to express their views on the major changes underway on the market for fixed service via satellite. [...] ARCEP is using this consultation to collect the views of all players concerned, especially in the space sector, on the prospects for the development of fixed service via satellite applications.

This consultation aims to:

• evaluate demand from players concerning the needs and use of the spectrum for fixed service via satellite applications
• evaluate sharing conditions, if required, which take into account both frequency resources and player needs