Page 103 - SAMENA Trends - October 2021

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

British telecoms regulator Ofcom has issued a decision the technical conditions set out in both the Spectrum
updating the technical conditions of mobile concessions Access 700MHz licenses and the European Conference
in the 800MHz band, saying that after consulting on of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations
the matter it had determined it was appropriate to do (CEPT) recommendation for the 800MHz band.
United so. Setting out its judgment, the regulator confirmed (October 28, 2021) commsupdate.com
the license amendment is available to all holders
Kingdom of Spectrum Access 800 MHz licenses on request. Ofcom has published its decision on a new fiber-to-the-
Licensees that wish to take advantage of these changes premises (FTTP) pricing offer that Openreach intends
can apply to Ofcom for a variation of their concession. to introduce from 1 October 2021). With the regulatory
Among the changes made as part of the decision, requirements designed to ensure that the regulator can
Ofcom has aligned the in-block transmit power limit examine pricing proposals before they are introduced
with the 700MHz band, with the permitted base station to ensure competition is not harmed, Openreach
transmit power increased from 61 dBm/(5MHz) EIRP to notified Ofcom of its planned ‘Equinox Offer’ on 1 July
64 dBm/(5MHz) EIRP. This is accompanied by a change 2021. It subsequently launched a consultation process
to the way in which the power limit is referenced, calling for feedback on the pricing plans, setting out a
moving from per radio equipment to per antenna; as provisional view that it was not considering taking any
part of this change, femtocells must implement power further action. Having now considered the responses
controls to minimize interference to adjacent channels. to its consultation, Ofcom has confirmed it will indeed
Meanwhile, to help facilitate equipment manufacturers not take any action regarding Openreach’s pricing
make equipment that can use both the 700MHz and proposals, and the ‘Equinox Offer’ will now last until 30
800MHz bands, Ofcom has changed some of the September 2031 and be available across Openreach’s
out-of-band and out-of-block limits. Such changes FTTP footprint.
have been made to closer align the power limits with (October 1, 2021) commsupdate.com

Auction 110, the latest sale of 5G-suitable spectrum launch a new 5G network in 2022 – is understood to
by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), be bidding via a holding company called Weminuche.
commenced yesterday (5 October), generating opening Auction 110 is offering bidders new flexible‐use
day bids of USD672.4 million. The 33 qualified bidders licenses in the 3.45GHz–3.55GHz band throughout the
include the likes of AT&T Communications (bidding contiguous US. The 100MHz spectrum band has been
United as AT&T Auction Holdings), Verizon Wireless (Cellco divided into ten 10MHz blocks and licensed by Partial
States Partnership) and T-Mobile US (T-Mobile License). Economic Area (PEA), for a total of 4,060 licenses.
Satellite TV giant DISH Network – which intends to (October 6, 2021) commsupdate.com

The Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) end-September. Major operators Viettel, Mobifone and
outlined plans to hold a spectrum auction this quarter Vinaphone began testing commercial 5G services in
to enable operators to boost LTE capacity and formally 2019 in parts of the country’s two largest cities, Hanoi
launch 5G services next year. MIC Minister Nguyen Manh and Ho Chi Minh City, using trial licenses. Last month,
Vietnam Hung said the country is determined to keep up with Viettel, working with Ericsson and Qualcomm, recorded
a peak transmission speed of 4.7Mb/s using 800MHz
other operators around the world by commercializing
5G, the news agency wrote. The minister previously of mmWave spectrum in a 5G trial. In May 2020,
called for the regulator to allocate spectrum in the Fitch Solutions predicted the operators would quickly
2.6GHz band but didn’t mention any additional bands. move to 5G because the government had prioritized
The Ministry also set the target for all citizens to use the technology and the nation has mature handset
smartphones by 2023. GSMA Intelligence data showed manufacturing capabilities.
smartphone penetration in Vietnam was 66 per cent at (October 6, 2021) Vietnam News Service

103 OCTOBER 2021