Page 115 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2022

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Competition Watchdog Investigates Fiber Network Rollouts in Flanders

The Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) has opened a formal however, that initiating such an enquiry does not imply that
investigation into possible distortions of competition in the companies are guilty of anti-competitive conduct. No concrete
deployment of fiber networks in the Flanders region. ‘On the details were provided about the investigation. Proximus set up
basis of serious indications of practices capable of distorting fair Fiberklaar, a joint venture with EQT Infrastructure, in March 2021
competition and the efficient rollout of fiber networks in Flanders, with the aim to connect at least 1.5 million homes and businesses
and taking into account the BCA’s policy note of 12 May 2022 in Flanders to an open fiber network by 2028. Rival Telenet,
which identifies the telecommunications sector as a priority sector, meanwhile, signed a deal with utility provider Fluvius last October
the Prosecutor General has decided to open a formal investigation,’ to deploy a fully open access network in the region, including both
the watchdog said in a statement released last Friday. It stressed, cable and FTTH services.

Indian 5G Rollouts Expected to Commence in August/September; 20-25

Cities to Be Covered By End-2022

Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Union Minister for Railways, Communication,
Electronics and IT, expects the winners of this summer’s planned
5G spectrum auction to commence their network rollouts in August-
September, with a view to achieving coverage of 20-25 towns
and cities by end-2022. Speaking at an event over the weekend,
the official stated: ‘I can say with confidence that 5G deployment
will start in at least 20-25 cities and towns by year-end.’ India’s
5G auction will comprise more than 72GHz of spectrum across
the 600MHz, 700MHz, 800MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, 2100MHz,
2300MHz, 3.3GHz and 26GHz bands. Interested parties have until
8 July to submit applications, with the auction due to begin on 26
July. All licenses will be valid for 20 years.

Romania Imposes 4% Tax on Streaming Platforms

As telcos call for so-called over-the-top (OTT) players to contribute providers. The tax will apply on revenues generated from both
financially to infrastructure costs, Romania is already moving individual transactions and repeat subscriptions. The funds raised
ahead with a direct tax on the profits of streaming services like from this tax will be given to the national film fund, managed by
Netflix In recent months, European operators have once again the Romanian Film Centre, to help develop the country’s domestic
been urging regulators to force big tech companies to help pay for film industry. The tax is being implemented to create a more level
their expensive infrastructure rollouts. In a recent study from the playing field between streaming services and the broader film
European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association industry, with Romania’s domestic cinemas already obligated to
(ETNO), the telcos argued that Meta, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, dedicate 4% of their revenues to the film fund.” The contributions
Microsoft, and Netflix should contribute €20 billion annually to the Cinematographic Fund, as they are provided in art. 13 of
towards their network costs, since they account for over 56% Government Ordinance 39/2005 regarding cinematography are 4%
of annual traffic on telco networks. European Commissioner for the traditional operators, respectively the cinemas. On-demand
Margrethe Vestager has said that the EU will consider this proposal, audiovisual media services, generically known as VoD platforms,
saying that these players have so far “not been contributing” to are in fact still operating. Thus, a discrimination in the way in which
enabling the traffic that they generate. Detractors, meanwhile, say one operator contributes to the Film Fund in relation to another
such plans unfairly punish the tech players, with a group of non- does not find any objective justification,” said the government in
government organizations also recently pointing out that such a a translated statement. Services with audience levels below 1%
tax would arguably run contrary to European rules surrounding net or with revenues of less than €65,000 a year will be exempt from
neutrality. Now, it seems that Romania is already moving to redress this new tax. The law will also see streaming platforms required
the balance of power, at least when it comes to streaming services, to dedicate at least 30% of their libraries to media produced in
implementing a new tax of 4% on the revenues of video-on-demand Europe.

115 MAY-JUNE 2022