Page 150 - SAMENA Trends - February 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

The Greek government has extended its broadband improving the penetration of fiber-based networks.
subsidy offer to business users. The voucher scheme Under the EUR50 million (USD55 million) Superfast
was launched for residential users last year, providing Broadband (SFBB) project small and medium-sized
a subsidy towards the initial set-up costs and monthly businesses will be offered a subsidy of EUR360 per
fees for a maximum of 24 months, with the aim of connection. (February 12, 2020) commsupdate.com

The National Telecommunications Commission implementation time as its key priorities. Spectrum in
(Conatel) has indicated that it is poised to free the 3.3GHz-3.7GHz range will be designated for mobile
up the 3.5GHz band for mobile use, as it seeks use, while frequencies in the 3.7GHz-3.8GHz range
to ‘deliver the benefits of regional harmonization will be earmarked for fixed-wireless broadband use.
Honduras with other Latin American countries.’ In freeing up The spectrum will be auctioned via a public tender,
although no date has been disclosed.
the band, the regulator has identified international
roaming, spectrum optimization, investment cost and (February 4, 2020) commsupdate.com

Hong Kong’s Office of the Communications Authority Lantau Island. The regulator has selected HGC Global
(OFCA) has awarded contracts for five of the six remote Communications to manage the subsidized rollout in
areas where it was seeking operators to deploy fiber- Regions 1, 3 and 4, while HKT will cover Regions 2 and
based networks to improve rural connectivity. The 5. No applications were received for Region 6 (Lantau
Hong Kong scheme covers 235 villages across the six regions and Island, Cheung Chau and Peng Chau) and OFCA re-
opened the tender for this region at the end of January.
will also involve the deployment of three submarine
cables connecting Lamma Island to Hong Kong Island, (February 11, 2020) commsupdate.com
Cheung Chau to Lantau Island, and Peng Chau to

Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Tata Teleservices paid INR100 billion towards its bill of roughly INR356
Limited (TTSL) have submitted part payment of dues billion; Vodafone Idea submitted INR25 billion, with an
related to the Supreme Court’s October 2019 decision extra INR10 billion to be paid by the end of the week,
on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR. The trio owe a of a total bill of around INR530 billion; and TTSL paid
India combined total of around INR1.02 trillion (USD14.3 INR22 billion, which it believes to be the entirety of its
billion) – the lion’s share of a total bill of around INR1.47
outstanding AGR dues, although the government holds
trillion issued to providers – in backdated license and that TTSL owes INR138 billion in fees, penalties and
spectrum fees, with payment due on 23 January 2020. interest. The Supreme Court’s apparent inflexibility
With the exception of Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) – with regards to the enforcement of the AGR order has
which reportedly cleared its comparatively small bill sparked concerns in the nation’s financial sector that
of INR1.95 billion before the deadline – the affected the demand may force the collapse of Vodafone Idea;
providers had not paid anything towards the bill whilst senior officials at the telco have warned on several
they waited for permission from the apex court to occasions that it would be forced to close down if
arrange a payment schedule with the Department of the government offered no relief. Looking to assuage
Telecommunications (DoT). The DoT, for its part, had concerns, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that
opted not to take coercive action against the telcos – it is ‘very closely monitoring’ the fallout of the crisis and
again awaiting clarification from the court. In its most the potential impact on lenders if any of the telcos were
recent ruling, however, the Supreme Court refused to to default. Government Ministers, meanwhile, have yet
allow any additional time for the companies to pay the to coordinate their responses to the crisis. Speaking on
bill, holding a DoT official in contempt of court and behalf of the state-owned utility firms that have been
threatening the executives of the providers with similar issued AGR-related demands by the DoT, Oil Minister
punishments for failing to comply with the original Dharmendra Pradhan asserted that the notices were
October 2019 order. The providers were advised to issued ‘due to some communication gap’ and holds
submit at least a portion of the demanded funds that the public sector undertakings (PSU) are not liable
immediately to avoid further action. To that end – and for the dues. The Supreme Court dismissed a petition
with no sign of any relief from the Supreme Court – the from the PSUs related to the orders, instructed them to
operators submitted an initial tranche of funds: Airtel challenge the notices elsewhere. The Finance Minister,

150 FEBRUARY 2020