Page 120 - SAMENA Trends - June-July 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Emerging Markets Will Rely On 2G And 3G For Another 5 Years - GSMA

A new report from the GSMA cautions that while operators look capital expenditure demands of deploying their 5G networks
to the future of 4G and 5G, they must not disregard their legacy and extending the reach of their 4G and LTE networks, with the
2G and 3G networks. By 2025, the report claims that around two operational expense of continuing to run their legacy network
thirds of all mobile network traffic will be on 4G and 5G networks. infrastructure. In order to do this, they will need to consolidate as
However, it will be a different story in emerging markets, with many aspects of their mobile network infrastructure as possible.”
the majority of users continuing to have access only to older
technology standards. This means that billions of mobile users
in Africa, India and Latin America will remain on 2G and 3G up to
2025. However, the importance of 3G is not limited to developing
markets, with the GSMA noting that its research had found that
around 20% of mobile traffic was delivered via 3G networks in
the US and Europe. This underlines the importance of operators
maintaining their legacy networks while investing in newer
deployments. Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA, said:
“We are at the dawn of a new era in mobile with the imminent
launch of the first 5G networks and the Internet of Things poised
to further transform the way we live and work. Meanwhile,
operators continue to expand and upgrade their 4G networks
in order to provide an evolutionary path into the 5G era.” “In the
years ahead, mobile network operators will need to balance the

Anti-Trust Agency Meets to Consider Team LLC’s VEON Armenia Bid

Armenia’s State Commission for the of the talks – Team LLC moved to reassure applied to the SCPEC for a permit to buy
Protection of Economic Competition SCPEC that there would be ‘no mass 100% of the shares in VEON. The move
(SCPEC) met this week to consider an layoffs’ as a result of a takeover. On 1 reportedly followed VEON’s own filing to
application to acquire the country’s largest July 2020 meanwhile, Ucom opposed the SCPEC and the Public Services Regulatory
operator by revenue VEON Armenia (trading merger plan, claiming that the actions of Committee (PSRC), seeking permission to
as Beeline) by Team LLC, the new venture the Team LLC management constitute sell its shares to Team LLC. ‘Team is paving
set up by brothers Hayk and Aleksandr ‘unfair competition’ given their intimate a new way in Armenia’s telecom and digital
Yesayan in April of this year after they knowledge of Ucom’s business going services market and this purchase will help
jumped ship from another altnet, Ucom. into the bid. A decision on Team LLC’s us further enhance our professional team
SCPEC chairman Gegham Gevorgyan was application is still pending. As previously and develop the infrastructure,’ Team CEO
quoted by Arka News as saying that the reported by CommsUpdate, last month Hayk Yesayan was cited as saying, after
commission had carried out ‘a large-scale Team LLC, which will trade under the confirming the reports about the possible
study of the telecommunications sector banner Team. Telecom Armenia, confirmed VEON deal. ‘Team.Telecom Armenia has
in Armenia and abroad with special focus it was forging ahead with its plan to already begun designing and building a
on global trends and merger transactions purchase the country’s largest operator, next generation network,’ he added, noting
over the past five years. It also assessed and that the brothers – widely credited that the purchase of VEON Armenia could
the level of centralization in the field with turning Ucom into one of the country’s ‘further accelerate’ the introduction of new
and studied the technical capabilities of most successful businesses before they services and solutions for the Armenian
market participants.’ In a closed meeting unloaded their shares amid a dispute over people.
– given the commercially sensitive nature the direction of the firm’s future – had

Orange Completes 3.5GHz Purchase in Slovakia

French-owned Slovak telco Orange CommsUpdate last month, SWAN agreed Orange acquired 2×20MHz of spectrum in
Slovensko has completed its acquisition to transfer its rights to 3490MHz-3510MHz the 3.5GHz range from another licensee,
of a 5G-capable 3.5GHz license from frequencies to Orange, with the license Slovanet.
rival operator SWAN. As reported in valid until end-August 2025. In mid-2019

120 JUNE-JULY 2020