Page 155 - SAMENA Trends - July-August 2022

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

stations in Sao Paulo by 29 September, for a total of 5G, with Vivo, TIM and Claro all switching on 5G during
462 antennas. However, Anatel notes that it has already the week commencing 4 July. Belo Horizonte, Joao
received 1,378 antenna requests, suggesting that Pessoa, Porto Alegre were next in line to receive 5G,
initial 5G coverage will comfortably surpass the level with services going live from 29 July.
stipulated. Brasilia was the first location green-lit for SA (August 3, 2022) www.commsupdate.com

The telecoms regular has ordered Rogers whether or not a provider should favor their own
Communications Inc. to provide a detailed explanation customers over those using that provider as a backup
for last week's widespread service outage that affected during an emergency situation, he explained. McFarlane
Canada millions of Canadians and knocked out access to some also said if Quebecor is successful in acquiring Shaw-
owned wireless carrier Freedom Mobile, it would allow
health-care, law enforcement and banking services. The
CRTC said that it has requested that Rogers respond the Montreal-based company to increase its national
by July 22 to detailed questions it sent the company, presence and strengthen its business, consequently
including on the 'why' and 'how' the outage occurred opening the door for Rogers and Quebecor to
and what measures it is putting in place to prevent potentially become redundancy backups to each other.
future outages. Ian Scott, chair of the CRTC, said in a The deadline for Rogers, Shaw and Quebecor to reach
statement that the request was the first step the agency a definitive agreement on the sale of Freedom is July
was taking to improve network resiliency. "Events of 15. Carleton University professor Dwayne Winseck
this magnitude paralyzing portions of our country’s said consumers could have more power in emergency
economy and jeopardizing the safety of Canadians are situations if they had the option of temporarily switching
simply unacceptable." This request comes a day after to another network on their own during scenarios like
federal industry minister François-Philippe Champagne last week's outage. He said Google's mobile virtual
confirmed that the CRTC would investigate the outage network operator (MVNO) service in the U.S., Google Fi,
and met with Rogers chief executive Tony Staffieri that allows people to switch carriers using a web-based
and the head of several other telecom providers. In application, could be worth possibly replicating here
the meeting, Champagne directed the companies to in Canada. "For emergency situations, the government
come up with a crisis plan, including agreements on and CRTC could mandate a daily cap roaming fee for
emergency roaming, a "mutual assistance" framework subscribers who jumped onto another network," he
during outages and a communication protocol to said. The federal government is giving the telecom
"better inform the public and authorities during companies that participated in Monday's meeting
telecommunications emergencies." With Canada's around two months to come up with a clear network
big telecom companies now tasked with developing a resiliency plan. If the providers are unable to come
backup plan to mitigate the impact of future outages up with one in that timeframe, Winseck said there are
and other emergency scenarios, one former telecom some levers Ottawa can pull. "They can issue an order-
executive says that there is the risk of creating a in-council under section eight of the Telecoms Act.
situation where a competitor's network becomes They can also impose such obligations as a condition
overwhelmed and service is ultimately degraded. of license in the next round of spectrum auctions," he
Former Telus chief financial officer Robert McFarlane said. The industry minister could also factor the lack of
said that while devising a strategy to ensure everyone's a comprehensive resiliency plan into his ongoing review
phones are able to function on other networks if there's of Rogers' $26-billion proposed deal to buy Shaw, and in
a service outage makes "tremendous sense," the so doing "put a thumb on the scales in opposition to the
telecom providers will have to be very thoughtful in their deal," Winseck added.
approach. An additional challenge would be determining (July 14, 2022) bnnbloomberg.ca

The Regulatory Agency for Network Operations expected to cover 60MHz in the 800MHz band, 70MHz
(Hrvatska regulatorna agencija za mrezne djelatnosti, at 900MHz, 150MHz at 1800MHz, 120MHz in the
HAKOM) has launched a public consultation on the 2100MHz range and 140MHz in the 2.6GHz band. There
allocation of spectrum in the 800MHz, 900MHz, will also be up to 80MHz available in the 3.5GHz band
Croatia 1800MHz, 2100MHz, 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands. The for regional (county level) operations. Licenses will be
regulator is proposing to harmonize the expiry date of valid for 15 years, with an optional five-year extension.
all concessions in those bands to 18 October 2024 to The public consultation is open until 16 September.
allow for a concurrent auction to be held for all bands to (August 15, 2022) www.commsupdate.com
maximize the efficiency of spectrum use. The auction is

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