regulation

Interest builds in fourth Bulgarian GSM licence

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Eleven companies have expressed interest in participating in the planned Bulgarian GSM1800 spectrum auction for the country's fourth mobile licence according to the national regulator, the Communications Regulation Commission. The auction for the 20-year licence will take place on the 29th July 2008 with a reserve price of US$30.2 million. Bulgaria currently has three mobile operators, MobilTEL, Globul and BTC Mobile, all of whom have indicated that they will not be bidding for the spectrum. The regulator has not published the names of the companies who have indicated their interest but local landline operators Max Telecom, Transtelecom and Carrier BG as well as Turkey's Turkcell are seen as likely bidders.

For more on this story:
- read Cellular News

Related stories:
Max Telecom Deploys first Nationwide European Mobile Broadband Network with Navini. Article
Turkcell readies Belarus bid, but value in question. Article

French to consult (again) on 3G licence

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:56 -0400

The French regulator ARCEP has launched a public consultation process to canvass opinion on the assignment of the remaining frequencies in the 2.1GHz band. These assignments are of particular importance to potential greenfield operators who, if allocated 2.1GHz spectrum, will also be able to gain access to the 900MHz band. The announcement of a public consultation is the latest move in the ongoing saga of French 3G spectrum allocations. In April 2008 the French Government announced that the application procedure it launched in March 2007 regarding the assignment of the remaining 2.1GHz band frequencies had been unsuccessful. The Government therefore invited ARCEP to hold a public consultation with the aim of having a solution by the end of September 2008. French broadband provider Iliad applied for the fourth licence in October last year but the application was rejected by ARCEP on the grounds that it failed to meet the necessary financial criteria. Iliad has indicated that it is still interested in obtaining the fourth 3G licence. The consultation process closes on the 18th of July.

For more on this story:
- read Cellular News

Related stories:
Rumour mill: 4th French 3G licence shelved. Article
French operators play politics to stop 4th UMTS licence. Article

Voice roaming needs greater competition, claims Euro regulatory body

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:59:54 -0400

Pointing at the lack of price competition, the European Regulators Group (ERG), an independent body which groups all the European Union member states' telecoms regulators, has stated that there is an obvious need to extend voice roaming regulation and to consider new measures to curb excesses in SMS roaming.

The ERG accepted that preliminary data for the period October 2007 to March 2008 indicated that the new Eurotariff had successfully capped voice roaming charges, but the information also showed that prices clustered just below the cap, indicating no evidence of price competition or tariff innovation.

The ERG has said it will advise the European Commission and the European Parliament on the need for further regulation ahead of a further round of reform of the rules governing the telecoms sector.

For more on this story:
- read AFX News

Related stories:
EU operators jack up roaming fees. Roaming fees story
EU launches inquiry into mobile data roaming fees. EU inquiry story

Orange bid wins fourth Slovak mobile licence

Thu, 01 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Following a bidding process, based entirely on price, Orange Slovakia has secured the country's fourth mobile licence. The France Telecom company's bid was €1.3 million (US$1.93 million) winning it a 20-year licence to operate a mobile network in the 870MHz frequency band. Orange Slovakia, the country's largest mobile operator, plans to use the new spectrum to drive mobile Internet services. Losing bidders were Telefonica and Irish Logic System.

For more information:
- go to Cellular News and Budapest Business Journal

Spectrum auction will be technology-neutral, states German regulator

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 06:59:55 -0400

The German telecoms regulator has announced that the second tranche of broadband wireless frequencies will have no restrictions on the use of particular technologies, but will no longer take place this year. The regulator claimed that the delay was due to the 'meticulous planning' required to prepare the auction--a move being interpreted as an attempt to avoid the outcry following Germany's first 3G auction in 2000 which drew criticism from cellcos because the amount of spectrum on offer was less than they wanted.

"The award of further spectrum for broadband is becoming ever more important in view of the number of regular UMTS users more than tripling between 2005 and 2007," said the president of Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA), Matthias Kurth. "By drawing up the conditions of use flexibly to allow maximum technology and service neutrality we are enabling both potential new entrants and network operators that are already active in the market to meet the requirements of a dynamic market on a long-term basis. This will encourage a number of different business models."

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- read Telegeography

U.K. regulator receives £10m funding from mobile operators

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

The minutes of a U.K. government committee have revealed that the mobile operators contributed over £10 million towards the running costs of Ofcom, the U.K. telecoms regulator.

While the U.K. operators have long remained silent with regard to their contributions, the head of Ofcom, Ed Richards, has confirmed to a U.K. member of parliament that Orange paid £2.5 million towards Ofcom's overall costs of around £130 million. However, with network revenue increasing and Ofcom's operating budget decreasing by 5 per cent to £126.7 million, the percentage contributed by networks is expected to grow.

For more on this story:
- read Mobile Business

U.K. regulator receives £10m funding from mobile operators

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 06:59:54 -0400

The minutes of a U.K. government committee have revealed that the mobile operators contributed over £10 million towards the running costs of Ofcom, the U.K. telecoms regulator.

For more on this story:
- read Mobile Business

Where now for European spectrum auctions?

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:59 -0400

While last week's CTIA Wireless event was the place to announce what you might plan to do with the 700MHz spectrum you've just won--offer 4G services, if you're AT&T or Verizon Wireless, but what of Europe?

The U.K. is perhaps the nearest to what the U.S. operators have gone through, with Ofcom set to auction around 400MHz of prime spectrum, starting with the 1452-1492 MHz band (the so-called 'L-Band') at the end of April.

Last month Ofcom announced its decision to release the L-band on a technology and service neutral basis from the start (Were they influenced by Google's lobbying of the U.S. regulator for open access?). Regardless, the L-band has been identified as having a number of uses, including mobile multimedia services, satellite digital radio, and broadband wireless access or high-speed Internet on the move.

What remains unanswered today is how big a part politics will play, and if the regulator can be completely neutral. Officially, Ofcom has stated that it wants to get the most benefit from a finite resource, and any funds generated would simply be a by-product of that. Industry analysts have suggested there could be other motives behind this unprecedented move. Is this really a move that champions the user?

How the spectrum is sliced up is also worrying potential bidders. Dividing it into 5MHz units would work best for cell phone operators, leaving it split into 8MHz bundles is a more convenient size for TV broadcasters. One of those 8MHz bundles would be enough to launch up to 24 mobile TV channels, or nine new digital TV free-to-air channels.

If all the spectrum were used for a single purpose, it could support 360 mobile TV channels or 135 digital channels--the equivalent of tripling the size of today's free-to-air platform.

And it's this potential that will generate the interest and the bids from prospective parties--how it pans out will be interesting to watch. -Paul

High-price operators to be shamed by EU regulator

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Never one to avoid a fight, the combative EU Telecoms Commissioner, Viviane Reding, has threatened to name and shame operators that do not cut prices for roaming text messaging and wholesale data transmission by July 1.

Warning operators that her department will examine European mobile tariffs and publish the results on a website, Reding said she would submit regulations that could come into effect as early as the end of this year to ensure operators take note of her demands.

The EU Commissioner has taken issue with the roaming tariffs charged by operators for text messages and data downloads. She has called for the price of a text message sent outside of one's home country to be capped at 12 euro cents, down from the average of 29 cents in Europe. Looking at mobile data rates, Reding has pointed to some operators charging as much as €11, or US$17, per megabyte of data transmitted outside of their home country, but most charge €5 to €7, she said.

"These prices represent a cash cow, they are huge and cannot last," Reding said. "They are hampering the development of a service that could explode, and those who could create content."

In their defence Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom and KPN have already announced cuts in their data roaming prices.

For more on this story:
- read International Herald Tribune

Rumour mill: 4th French 3G licence shelved

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 06:59:56 -0400

Shares of French 3G operators have moved sharply higher on rumours that the government has postponed plans to issue a fourth 3G licence. Sources within the industry claim that the reluctance stems from the notion that a fourth 3G operator would struggle to survive financially.

Recognising that the government could generate over €600 million from the auction of the 3G licence--and given its widening budget deficit and mounting debt, industry analysts expect the government to 'manufacture' a process whereby it can persuade the existing 3G licence holders--Bouygues, France Telecom and Vivendi, to make an offer.

The French telecommunications regulator Arcep rejected an application for the licence made by Iliad subsidiary Free Mobile in October, as it did not meet the financial criteria. Iliad was reported as wanting a reduction or step payment of the €619 million licence fee.

For more on this story:
- read Total Telecom and Cellular News