Page 101 - SAMENA Trends - June-August 2021

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

CMA Refers Cellnex and CK Hutchison’s Tower Deal for In-Depth Investigation

British antitrust watchdog the Competition At the time it was noted that the EUR10 a substantial lessening of competition
and Markets Authority (CMA) has billion (USD11.8 billion) deal would be within a market or markets in the United
announced that is has referred the augmented by a EUR1.4 billion rollout of Kingdom’.
proposed acquisition of the passive 5,250 new sites over the next eight years,
infrastructure assets of CK Hutchison while Cellnex and CK Hutchison would
Holdings Limited and its subsidiaries in sign long-term service contracts for an
the UK by Cellnex UK Limited for a full initial period of 15 years, extendable for
investigation. As previously reported by an additional 15 years. Now, the CMA has
CommsUpdate, in November 2020 Spain- said it has decided to probe the proposed
based mobile tower firm Cellnex Telecom deal further, ‘on the basis that, on the
confirmed an agreement to acquire 24,600 information currently available to it, it is
towers from CK Hutchison in the UK, Italy, or may be the case that this merger has
Ireland, Austria, Sweden and Denmark. resulted or may be expected to result in

CITC Launches First Phase of Regulatory Sandbox for Solutions Developed

by Telcos

Saudi Arabia's Communications and Telecommunication Company Saudi a flexible and stimulating environment
Information Technology Commission Arabia (Zain KSA) to register as the for telecom service providers to develop
(CITC) launched the first phase of the first participants in the pilot Regulatory business and employ smart solutions. This
experimental regulatory environment Sandbox. The move aims to provide will accordingly contribute to accelerating
"Regulatory Sandbox" to provide digital services and smart solutions to the the digital transformation processes of
innovative solutions developed by telecom government entities, which contributes various government entities, in line with the
service providers. In a statement, the to supporting decision-making and strategic directions of the communications
commission gave the go-ahead for stc, goal achievement. In the first phase, and information technology sector that are
Etihad Etisalat Co. (Mobily), and Mobile the Regulatory Sandbox aims to create based on Vision 2030.

Spain 5G Auction Tally Hits €1.1B

Spain raised a total of €1.1 billion in a The Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs its footprint and offer better coverage,
delayed auction for 5G-suitable frequencies detailed the end of the auction, with the including indoors. Orange Spain spent the
in the 700MHz band, with the local units total sum raised around €15 million above same amount for the same blocks, stating
of Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone the starting price. Each license carries a the move had consolidated its position
splashing more than €300 million each. duration of 20 years, rising to a maximum with the “most spectrum in the priority
of 40 years, running to 2061. The 700MHz frequencies for 5G”. In total, it said it had
band sale was divided into two blocks of invested €523 million on 5G spectrum in
2x10MHz and three of 5MHz, consisting Spain, building on 110MHz in the 3.5GHz
of a total 12 rounds of bidding, which was it bought in the last auction. The local
contested by the country’s three major incumbent Telefonica spent €310 million
operators after Masmovil opted out of for 2x10MHz, paying slightly less because
the process earlier this month. All three of faster rollout obligations. Notably, there
operators released separate statements were no bidders in the 5MHz blocks. It
following the conclusion. Vodafone Spain is Spain’s second sale of 5G-suitable
said it spent €350 million on 2x10MHz spectrum, following an auction covering
blocks, which will be paid in a single the 3.6GHz to 3.8GHz bands in 2018. A
instalment, in addition to a licensing fee of sale of 26GHz spectrum is planned by the
€15.5 million payable each year. It said it year-end.
would use the new frequencies to expand

101 JUN-AUG 2021