Page 107 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2023

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

ARCEP Slaps Mobile Operators with Formal Notice for ‘Serious’ QoS Breaches

Togo’s Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Axian Group). In a press release the watchdog confirmed: ‘Faced
Posts (Autorite de Regulation des Communications Electroniques with these serious and continuous violations combined with the
et des Postes, ARCEP) has slapped domestic mobile network weak improvement in the quality of service [QoS] observed over
operators (MNOs) Moov Africa Togo and Togocom (Togo Cellulaire) the last 18 months of around 5% for Moov Africa Togo and 8%
with formal notices concerning their continued ‘serious breaches for Togo Cellulaire, the General Management of ARCEP opened a
of service quality obligations’ (QoS). Between 3 November 2022 sanction procedure on 14 March 2023 against [both companies].’
and 13 January 2023, ARCEP carried out a national campaign to Having completed its report, at the recent session held on 31 May
measure the quality of mobile services (voice and internet) which 2023, the regulator ‘decided to give formal notice to Moov Africa
revealed that the two MNOs still do not meet minimum regulatory Togo and Togo Cellulaire and to grant them a period of six months
compliance thresholds. More specifically, ARCEP noted that the to make the investments and implement the necessary corrective
non-compliance rate is 63% for Moov Africa Togo (part of the Maroc actions with a view to complying with the regulatory service quality
Telecom group) and 51.4% for Togo Cellulaire (majority-owned by indicators and thresholds, under penalty of sanction.’

EC Approves Telenet-Fluvius Fiber Joint Venture

Belgian full-service provider Telenet and Flemish utilities group 2022 to jointly build ‘the network of the future’, deploying a
Fluvius received formal clearance from the EC on Wednesday hybrid network strategy to enable speeds of up to 10Gbps for all
for their planned fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network joint venture. its customers. Up to 78% of all homes in Flanders and parts of
Telenet said the approval fulfilled an important step to finalize Brussels are expected to be passed by fiber, with the majority to
the agreement and allows the pair’s new infrastructure company, be covered in the first eight years. In other areas, NetCo will further
currently under the working name NetCo, to effectively launch upgrade and expand the technology of the Hybrid Fiber Coaxial
early in July. The partners announced an agreement in July (HFC) network. Overall, the partners will invest up to EUR2 billion
(USD2.14 billion). NetCo will operate a fully open access network
providing non-discriminatory wholesale access to interested retail
telecoms operators, including Telenet and Orange Belgium. John
Porter, CEO of Telenet, said: ‘I am very happy that the European
Commission has given us the green light to build the network of
the future together with Fluvius. Our networks are already 90%
fiber today and thanks to this cooperation, we will soon also deploy
fiber to the last mile where needed. This approval will give new
impulses to our economy and will allow our region to take everyone
on the digital highway.’ Following the EC’s green light, Telenet and
Fluvius are now expected to close the transaction on 1 July 2023.
Telenet will have a 66.8% stake in NetCo with Fluvius owning the
remaining 33.2%. Telenet says that NetCo will be fully funded with
no dependency on obtaining incremental external financing.

PTA Takes Action Against Illegal Provisioning of Internet Services

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) continues its relevant equipment (switches/routers etc) were confiscated.
determined efforts to eliminate illegal provision of internet services. The office was sealed and FIA is probing further enquiry as per
In this regard, PTA, in coordination with the Federal Investigation law. This achievement can be attributed to PTA's unwavering
Agency (FIA), successfully conducted raids in Daharki, District commitment, continuous monitoring, and persistent efforts to curb
Ghotki and Johar Town, Lahore. The raid targeted an illegal illegal internet services. These actions are crucial in preventing
internet service provider located at Zafar Bazar Road in Daharki tax evasion and revenue misreporting, thus curtailing loss to the
during which equipment of illegal ISP was confiscated. While in national exchequer. The public is advised to avail telecom services
Lahore, operational internet setup was found, being operated from only PTA licensed operators to avoid sudden discontinuation
without valid license. Two persons were taken into custody and of service.

107 MAY-JUNE 2023