Europe took an important step towards a new generation of mobile services . The Council of Ministers followed the European Parliament in approving a proposal from the European Commission to modernise European legislation - the so-called GSM Directive - on the use of the radio spectrum needed for mobile services. The GSM Directive of 1987 reserves the use of part of the 900MHz spectrum band to GSM (Global System for Mobile or originally Groupe Special Mobile) access technologies such as mobile phones. The updated Directive now allows the 900 MHz frequency band to be used to provide faster, pan-European services such as mobile internet while ensuring the continuation of GSM services. This new flexibility will foster stronger competition on Europe's telecoms market and contribute to a more rapid and more widespread roll-out of wireless broadband services, one of the drivers of economic recovery.

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Source: Europa

The Australian Communications and Media Authority today announced a substantial reduction in charges for number applications by telecommunications carriage service providers. The lower charges reflect a considerable reduction in the time and effort to process these applications, following enhancements to the ACMA’s online system for managing numbers.

‘The reduction in charges for number applications is one outcome of an ongoing transformation process the ACMA is undertaking, which involves overhauling many of its legacy IT systems. This particular enhancement has significantly reduced the time required to complete and process applications for numbers,’ said Chris Chapman, Chairman of the ACMA.

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Source: Australian Communications and Media Authority - ACMA

Los operadores de cable y los operadores alternativos han obtenido el 82,86% de la ganancia neta de líneas de banda ancha entre marzo y mayo de 2009, según la última nota mensual publicada por la Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT). Los operadores de cable se han hecho con el 16,21% de las líneas y el resto de operadores alternativos, con el 66,65%. Telefónica, por su parte, ha captado el 17,14% restante de las líneas.
 
Durante el mes de mayo de 2009 se han dado de alta 46.397 líneas de banda ancha, con lo que el total ya alcanza los 9,34 millones, un 8,7% más que el año anterior. La presión competitiva que están ejerciendo los operadores alternativos en banda ancha se ha dejado notar también en los datos de portabilidad fija, que obtuvieron en mayo su segundo mejor registro en 12 meses, con 126.836 números portados, un 28% más que en mayo de 2008.
 
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Source: Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT)

A dos meses de haberse puesto en marcha el Registro Nacional de Usuarios de Telefonía Móvil (RENAUT), casi 9 millones de números telefónicos han sido registrados en todo el país. Según los cifras que arroja el RENAUT, durante el período comprendido entre el 10 de abril y el 10 de junio, 8 millones 729 mil 199 usuarios de telefonía móvil han registrado exitosamente su número telefónico en la base de datos que exprofeso ha diseñado la Secretaría de Gobernación (SEGOB).

Los usuarios de telefonía móvil en el país envían un mensaje de texto al 2877 con la palabra “Alta” (punto) seguida del nombre (punto), apellido (punto), así como su fecha de nacimiento, y unos segundos más tarde reciben en su aparato telefónico la confirmación de que su número ha quedado registrado en la base de datos.

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Source: COFETEL - Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones

Iraq's government has approved plans to tender two additional mobile licenses, with one of them reserved for 3G services. The country already has three mobile networks, although there have been complaints from the regulator about poor coverage and service reliability.

"Now we are waiting to start the procedure (for tendering), which we expect to be soon," Iraq's Finance Minister Bayan Jabor told Reuters.

It has been previously reported that Turkcell and Etisalat would be interested in bidding for a mobile license in the country.

Figures from the Mobile World shows that the country ended Q1 '09 with 16.8 million mobile phone users, which represents a population penetration level of 58%.

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Source: cellular-news

The French telecoms regulator, Arcep is expected to make another attempt at offering a fourth 3G license by the end of this month. The President of Arcep told a press conference that the "tender offer will almost certainly be launched by the end of July," without expanding on the details.

French Internet Service Proider, Iliad is the only company to have formally tabled its intention to bid for the license, although Numericable and Virgin Mobile France are mulling a joint bid. A previous bid for the license by Iliad was rejected by the regulator in October 2007.

According to figures from the Mobile World analysts, the three incumbent operators market share at the end of Q1 '09 was: Orange (47%), SFR (36%) and Bouygues Télécom (17%)

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Source: cellular-news

An Auction of Radio Spectrum in the 1800MHz Band for Expansion of Public Mobile Telecommunications Services, Successful Bidder Notice was referred to in paragraph 5.4.1 of the Notice dated 24 April 2009 that was issued by the Telecommunications Authority (the “Authority”) in exercise of the powers conferred by section 32I of the Telecommunications Ordinance, the Telecommunications (Level of Spectrum Utilization Fees) (Second Generation Mobile Services) Regulation, the Telecommunications (Determining Spectrum Utilization Fees by Auction) Regulation and all other powers enabling him to specify the terms and conditions of the Auction and the payment of the Spectrum Utilization Fees. Unless otherwise stated or the context otherwise requires, words and expressions used in this notice have the same meaning as that given to them in the Notice.
 
The Authority is pleased to announce that the Successful Bidders of the Auction and the Frequency Bands assigned to them.  See document.
Source: OFTA

Commencing on 6 July 2009, the Commission will hold a hearing in Gatineau, Quebec, to do a review of the Internet traffic
management practices of Internet service providers. For more information or to listen to the hearing through live audio feed,
please visit the website here.

See eeference documents:     Telecom Public Notice CRTC 2008-19
See also Telecom Public Notices CRTC 2008-19-1; 2008-19-2  and 2008-19-3.

Source: CRTC

The following publications were added to the ComReg website concerning the consultation related to "Liberalising the future use of 900 MHz & 1800 Mhz Spectrum Bands and Spectrum Release Options"

See related publications:
Consultation - Liberalising the Use of the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz Spectrum Bands
Submissions to Consultation - Liberalising the Use of the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz Spectrum Bands

Source : ComReg

The European Commission today closed three infringement proceedings against Poland after the country took steps at national level to correct the problems and bring Polish law into line with EU telecoms rules. The cases concern the independence of the Polish regulator, consumer contracts, and the obligation for operators to negotiate interconnection. The Commission is still analysing other parts of the amendments made by the Polish government to national telecoms laws.

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Source: Europa

The Commission  opened an infringement procedure against Germany because the country's national regulator − the Bundesnetzagentur − did not consult the Commission and other national regulators prior to deciding on new levels of mobile termination rates. Termination rates are wholesale fees charged by operators to connect calls from one network to another operator's network. Contrary to Germany's obligations under EU telecoms rules, the Bundesnetzagentur's final decisions on mobile termination rates were adopted on 31 March 2009 before the Commission and other national regulators had the possibility to comment on the level of these rates. This lack of transparency is a first in the application of EU telecoms rules in the 27 EU Member States. Without prior consultation of other regulators, there is an increased risk that the regulatory approach to termination rates will differ among Member States and distort competition in the EU's single telecoms market. Already today, termination rates, and the methodology used to set them, vary widely across the EU. The Commission has therefore called for them to be better coordinated.

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Source: Europa

A consortium made up of France Telecom and Divona Telecom has been provisionally awarded the third mobile license in the North African country of Tunisia. The license covers both GSM and 3G services, and includes a landline service.

A statement from the regulator warned that the award is temporary pending the completion of the provisions included in the procedures of the international call for tender. The final decision should be confirmed next week.

There are currently two mobile network operators in the country - the state controlled Tunisie Telcom which is the sole landline operator, and Tunisiana, which just operates a mobile phone network. It is not immediately clear if Tunisiana will be offered a landline license, otherwise it would be commercially at a disadvantage to the other two operators.

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Source: cellular-news

The European Commission has cleared, by a letter published today, the proposal of the French telecoms regulator ARCEP to maintain regulatory obligations on the incumbent TV transmission services operator TDF. The regulation will apply to those TDF masts and sites that are impossible or very difficult to replicate. Alternative transmission service providers need to have access to these sites under adequate conditions to provide competing transmission services to digital television broadcasters and multiplex operators. At the same time, however, the Commission invites ARCEP to monitor the extent to which TDF's sites can be replicated and the competitive developments on the market so as to ensure that the regulatory obligations to be imposed on TDF remain justified and proportionate.

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Source: Europa

The location of people calling the single European emergency number 112 from their mobile phones in Lithuania is still not always available to emergency services, despite the European Court of Justice deciding, in its judgement last September that Lithuania is required under EU telecoms rules to make this happen. The European Commission therefore decided today to send a letter of formal notice to Lithuania calling on it to comply with the judgement by ensuring that caller location information is available to emergency services for all mobile calls to 112.

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Source: Europe's Information Society

La Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT) ha lanzado hoy una consulta pública en la que propone un recorte del 43% en los precios de terminación de los tres principales operadores móviles con red propia y un descenso del 52% para Xfera(que opera bajo la marca Yoigo). La consulta establece una senda de descenso (glide path) de los precios medios máximos de terminación que durará dos años (del 16 de octubre de 2009 hasta el 15 de octubre de 2011).
 
La CMT plantea que al final del nuevo periodo regulatorio el precio mayorista que cobran los operadores de red móvil –Telefónica (Movistar), Vodafone, Orange y sus respectivos operadores móviles virtuales completos (OMV)- por terminar las llamadas en sus respectivas redes sea de 0,04 €/minuto, frente a los 0,07 €/minuto actuales.
 

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Source: Comisión del Mercado de las Telecomunicaciones (CMT)