Page 138 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2022

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Bids for the second 5G broadband cellular network li- Estonia has launched the auction of its second 3.5GHz
cense on offer in Estonia have passed the US$4.7 mil- license, with Telia, Tele2 and Bite Lietuva left in the
lion mark. The 3.6 GHz bandwidth is open to three com- running after Elisa emerged as the winner of the first
panies: Telia, Tele2 and UAB Bite, a Lithuanian company. concession late last month. The second license, which
Estonia Elisa, having won the auction of the first bandwidth to offers 130MHz of spectrum in the 3410MHz-3800MHz
be held, is not eligible to be in the running for the sub- band, has a starting price of EUR1.597 million (USD1.7
sequent auctions. Aap Adreas Rebas, spokesperson million); Elisa won the previous auction with an offer of
for the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulato- EUR7.206 million after 57 rounds of bidding. Four firms
ry Authority (TTJA), which is overseeing the bidding, have been vying for the three available concessions, so
said: "The second auction of the 3.6 GHz 5G frequen- competition for a license is expected to be fierce.
cy license reached the 30th round as of June 28 at a (June 13, 2022) commsupdate.com
level of €4,500,300. All three bidders can submit bids,
and at least one bid must be submitted in each round." Elisa has been named as the winner of the first license
The auction is likely to last some time more, he added. in Estonia’s auction of 5G-capable 3.5GHz spectrum.
"Most likely the second round is not over yet. That the The Consumer Protection and Technical Surveillance
competition is fully there. Perhaps the last round will Authority (TTJA) announced that Elisa submitted
see a little less competition," he added. Elisa paid €7.2 a bid of EUR7.206 million (USD7.756 million), well
million for its bandwidth in the first auction, which last- above the reserve price of EUR1.597 million. A further
ed over 57 rounds and ended on May 27. The asking two concessions are still available, and the auction
price raises in €100,000 increments per round. Once for the next license will begin once Elisa has paid the
the second auction is completed, the TTJA will start the necessary fees. Andres Suti, Minister of Enterprise and
third and final round, which as noted only two compa- Information Technology, commented: ‘The final price,
nies will be eligible to bid in. Elisa claims that the first which is many times higher than the starting price,
license, which it won, was the most valuable of the three shows the strong competition in our 5G market, which
on offer, on the grounds that it is not subject to stricter accelerates the delivery of 5G to customers. Elisa now
restrictions relating to the Russian border. The company has the green light to offer a new user experience and
opened up its 5G network on June 16, initially offering new solutions to its customers, and two more licenses
Internet packages which can be used with an outdoor have to be shared.’
router, with the network available to other devices from (May 31, 2022) commsupdate.com
the fourth quarter of this year.(June 28, 2022) news.err.ee

Satellite internet company Starlink has been awarded public hearings before granting the licenses, a step
a new concession in France, after its previous which Arcep omitted. Following the court’s decision,
authorization was revoked on a legal technicality. Arcep opened a new public consultation process, which
The original decision to grant two frequency bands highlighted in particular the potential of the Starlink
France to the company was over-ruled by France’s highest service to improve connectivity in ‘white areas’ that
administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, in April 2022; the
are poorly served by fiber networks. In view of the
authority was quoted as ruling that the license award contributions received, Arcep issued Decision No. 2022-
‘could impact the market of access to high-bandwidth 1102, awarding the 10.95GHz-12.70GHz and 14GHz-
internet and affect the interests of end users’, therefore 14.5GHz bands to Starlink.
it should have been a legal requirement to carry out (June 6, 2022) commsupdate.com

A deadline for the granting of 700MHz spectrum licenses the islands only with the consent of the islands’ local
for the Aland Islands has been further extended, the government. As such, the MoTC has said: ‘It is justified
Ministry of Transport and Communications (Liikenne-ja to extend the time limit so that the Government of
viestintaministerio, MoTC) has announced. Previously, Aland can process the matter to a sufficient extent.’
Finland in December 2021 the ministry issued an invitation to With there being three concessions on offer, the MoTC
notes that applications have already been submitted
apply for the concessions, setting an initial deadline of
3 March 2022. However, in February this year the MoTC by a trio of operators, namely: Elisa, Telia Finland and
announced an extension to the application deadline Aland Telecommunications. According to the ministry,
– to 31 May 2022. Now, a further extension to 3 the technology neutral licenses are being issued ‘to
November 2022 has been confirmed, and in announcing promote the construction of 5G networks in Aland
the delay the ministry noted that under the Act on the and to improve the availability of high speed wireless
Autonomy of Aland, a state authority may grant a broadband connections’. (June 1, 2022) commsupdate.com
license for public telecommunications operations for
138 MAY-JUNE 2022