ARCEP has been engaged in efforts to develop high-speed and ultra high-speed mobile networks in France, in accordance with the spectrum strategy announced by the Prime Minister on 12 January 2009. With the procedure for awarding the fourth 3G licence now come to a close, and the procedure for allocating the remaining spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band to be launched in the very near future, ARCEP is looking ahead to the next stage, which will involve the allocation of spectrum in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands for the deployment of fourth-generation mobile networks. To this end,  ARCEP published a summary on its website of the public consultation on the future award of spectrum licences in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz frequency bands, for the deployment of ultra high-speed mobile networks. This consultation, which elicited 35 responses, allowed the Authority to gather stakeholders' analysis and views on the issues and relevant terms for awarding licences for ultra high-speed mobile networks operating in these frequency bands. ARCEP will soon be publishing preliminary scenarios for allocations in these bands, based on the results of the public consultation. It will also consult further with market players to streamline these scenarios. These efforts will help the Authority set the terms of the allocation procedures for these frequencies, which it plans to carry out in the second half of 2010 - once the remaining spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band has been awarded.

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Source: ARCEP

Como una medida para impulsar la competitividad, promover las inversiones brindar certeza jurídica, y apoyar al sector telecomunicaciones, la Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT) da por concluidos 22 títulos de concesión para operar sistemas de radiolocalización de personas (paggin) y dos títulos de transmisión de radio y TV restringidas, con ello, recupera espectro radioeléctrico para ser aprovechado con nuevas tecnologías.

La resolución se realizo luego de no presentarse en tiempo y forma las solicitudes de prorroga así como por comprobar tecnología obsoleta de estas técnicas de transmisión.

De esta manera, la SCT busca impulsar la competitividad del sector, y generar un ambiente favorable para la planeación de los negocios, así como favorecer a los consumidores con una más amplia variedad de servicios y proveedores.

Finalmente, la dependencia considera que los criterios indispensables para el desarrollo saludable del sector son: fomentar la competencia y evitar el acaparamiento del espectro; garantizar la explotación eficiente del espectro y el pago de una contraprestación por las concesiones; incrementar la cobertura de los servicios; Introducir nuevas tecnologías; y, permitir la continuidad de los servicios para el usuario.

 

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Source: Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transporte

Costa Rica has announced details of plans to break the telecoms monopoly held by he state-owned Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) and introduce competition into the mobile phone market. The telecoms regulator, Sutel aims to launch a tender for a second mobile license in April, with the license to be awarded in the second half of this year.

Sutel said that the companies that have expressed an interested in bidding include America Movil, Telefonica and Digicel Goup.

Costa Rica was obliged to open its telecoms market to competition as a condition of entry into the Central American Free Trade Agreement.

Figures from the Mobile World notes that the incumbent operator ended Q3 '09 with an estimated 3.23 million subscribers. The population penetration level is 76%.

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Source: Cellular News

ARCEP note the publication of its decision on the terms and methods for deploying and accessing ultra high-speed optical fibre electronic communications lines in very densely populated areas, in the Official Journal of 17 January 2010. Derived from this decision and a recommendation which has also been made public, the regulatory framework will help to stimulate investments in very densely populated areas in France, and to put the principle of infrastructure sharing into practice on a large scale. Operators now have one month to publish their access offers, detailing the technical and pricing terms of their current and future, shared fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network rollouts. As called upon to do so by the Prime Minister, ARCEP will continue its efforts in this area, and aims to complete the regulatory framework that will govern rollouts outside of very densely populated areas in 2010. Some of the provisions contained in the decision published today in fact apply to the entire country, notably the obligation to provide a passive access offer from the shared access point and the principles concerning pricing

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Source: ARCEP

The Government of Canada has varied a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decision regarding Globalive Wireless Management Corp., a Canadian-owned and controlled company. The variance is effective immediately so that Globalive can enter the wireless telecommunications market without delay. In varying the CRTC decision, the Government is not removing, reducing, bending or creating an exception to Canadian ownership and control requirements in the telecommunications and broadcasting industries. The Government’s decision to vary is specific to the facts of this case.

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Source: Industry Canada

The European Commission has sent a letter to the German telecoms regulator, Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), calling on it to make the provision of fixed subscriber lines more competitive. Today the market is still dominated by the incumbent operator, Deutsche Telekom (DT). While Deutsche Telekom's offer means that other operators can sell-on to consumers the use of land lines that they have leased from the incumbent, Deutsche Telekom charges these operators the same price as it does its own consumers. This makes it harder for alternative operators to offer consumers a competitive deal. The Commission wants the German regulator to oblige DT to make its land lines available to other telecoms operators. It also asks BNetzA to supervise wholesale prices for alternative operators providing competing services using Deutsche Telekom's network.

 

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Source: Europa

 

Comreg gas published a document for a consultation considering the regulatory approach most appropriate to facilitate the development and deployment of a Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) with a Complementary Ground Component (CGC), following the ratification of European Commission (EC) Decisions1 and the completion of the EC selection process2. The MSS with CGC system is intended to operate in the same frequency bands which were allocated to the MSS in the 2 GHz frequency range. 

 

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Source: Comreg

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During a conference on Universal Service, ANCOM has announced that the first stage of the new Universal Service strategy implementation has been completed. The Universal Service is a minimum set of electronic communications services, made available, upon request, to all end-users, at affordable prices and at a certain quality level, irrespective of their geographic location on the territory of an EU Member State. The Universal Service is a right of all the European Union’s citizens and the state The first stage of the implementation of the new Universal Service strategy consisted of a study undertaken in view of identifying the localities where electronic communications networks need to be rolled out.  According to the study, there are currently in Romania two villages (with a total of 140 inhabitants living in 45 households) which do not benefit from any telephone services. As soon as the technical aspects are clarified and the ANCOM decisions on Universal Service are amended, the Authority will designate one or more Universal Service providers which will ensure a connection capable to uphold the provision of telephone services (including emergency calls) and of broadband services (i.e. up to 1Mbps), taking into consideration the principles of efficiency, non-discrimination, technological neutrality and minimum market distortion.needs to intervene where the access to the minimum set of communications services is not ensured by the market mechanisms.

 

 

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Source : Ancom

Commencing on 7 December 2009, the Commission will hold a public hearing in order to prepare a report to thegovernment on the implications and advisability of implementing a compensation regime for the value of local television signals. For more information or to listen to the hearing through live audio feed, please visit the CRTC website.

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Source : CRTC

Europe's telecoms rules aim to progressively reduce sector specific regulation as competition develops in the market. The roll-out of next generation access networks which brings high speed broadband services to consumers poses new challenges for regulators to prevent new market monopolies. The Commission will issue a Recommendation on the regulation of next generation access networks in spring 2010 to ensure a consistent approach for regulating these new services.

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Source: Europa

The European Commission has given its green light to the amended definition of the wholesale broadband access market (WBA) notified by the Austrian regulator RTR (Rundfunk und Telekom Regulierungs GmbH). On 5 October 2009, the Commission had expressed serious doubts about the market definition as originally notified by RTR on 3 September 2009. RTR has now provided sufficient evidence that mobile broadband connections are substitutes to fixed line broadband connections for Austrian residential customers. RTR has also modified its wholesale market definition and now excludes all bitstream access for residential customers from regulation. Nevertheless, the Commission invites RTR to closely monitor market developments and to change the market definition if its forecasts on the continued substitutability of fixed and mobile broadband products and next generation access network (NGA) roll-out prove to be incorrect.

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Source: Europa

 

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission  determined that Globalive Wireless Management (Globalive) does not meet the Canadian ownership requirements set out in the Telecommunications Act. Under the legislation, a telecommunications company is only eligible to operate in Canada if it is not at any time owned and controlled, in law and in fact, by non-Canadians. Today’s decision follows a public process that included a public hearing, which was held on September 23, September 24 and October 1, 2009.

 

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Source: CRTC

"Termination rates in Poland still vary highly between mobile phone operators. UKE must do more to reduce this asymmetry and to apply the same price regulation to all four mobile operators. Allowing P4 to charge termination rates that do not reflect true costs does not give the company the right incentive to become an efficient operator and does not allow Polish consumers to benefit from lower prices for mobile calls," said Viviane Reding, the EU Telecoms Commissioner.

Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes said, "Lower termination rates will decrease retail prices for mobile voice calls to the immediate benefit of consumers. New entrants may be exceptionally allowed to charge higher rates to reach a minimum efficient scale. However, to limit distortions of competition, such exemptions may only be granted for a limited period of time and should not exceed four years from the date of market entry, as provided by our Termination Rates Recommendation."

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Source: Europe's Information Society