Page 134 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

follows: Telenet Group, 3600MHz-3650MHz; Orange million (USD17.62 million) for a 15-year nationwide
Belgium, 3650MHz-3700MHz; Cegeka, 3700MHz- license comprising 2×15MHz of spectrum (2520MHz-
3740MHz; and Proximus, 3750MHz-3800MHz. 2535MHz/2640MHz-2655MHz). Citymesh, which
(October 19, 2020) commsupdate.com already possesses management rights in the 3.4GHz-
3.6GHz band, is mainly active in the B2B sector, some
Telecoms regulator the Belgian Institute for Postal industrial areas in Flanders and windfarms in the North
Services and Telecommunications (BIPT) has awarded Sea. A spectrum cap of 2×20MHz in the band meant
the remaining 4G frequencies in the 2.6GHz band to Orange Belgium, Proximus and Telenet were excluded
Citymesh, which was the only applicant to submit a from the auction.
bid. The operator paid the minimum price of EUR15.01 (October 2, 2020) commsupdate.com

The President Jair Bolsonaro has recreated the Ministry by as much as 90%, with operators instead having to
of Communications (Ministerio das Comunicacoes, fulfil coverage obligations. Under these conditions,
MiniCom) with the signing of Law 14,074/20 on operators will be encouraged to focus on delivering 4G
15 October. The regulatory switch has been on the access to settlements of under 30,000, according to
Brazil cards since June, when a ‘provisional measure’ was TeleGeography. Brazil’s 850MHz concession holders
approved. Communications has been part of the include Algar Telecom, Claro Brasil, Oi, Sercomtel and
Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation, and TIM Brasil.
Communications (Ministerio da Ciencia, Tecnologia, (October 3, 2020) developingtelecoms.com
Inovacoes e Comunicacoes, MCTIC) since 2016, when
then-President Michel Temer merged the Ministries as The National Telecommunications Agency (Agencia
part of an effort to reduce the number of government Nacional de Telecomunicacoes, Anatel) has reportedly
departments, as well as cutting public spending. authorized cellcos with spectrum in the 850MHz band
(October 20, 2020) commsupdate.com (806MHz-902MHz) to extend their concessions until
29 November 2028. According to TeleTime, around 90%
The regulator ANATEL has cleared operators with of the respective license fees will be converted into
spectrum holdings in the 850MHz band to extend coverage obligations, with an emphasis on delivering
their rights up until 29th November 2028. As reported 4G access to locations that are home to fewer than
in TeleTime, the move appears to be geared towards 30,000 inhabitants. The decision will impact Algar
expanding coverage into less inhabited regions. Telecom, Claro Brasil, Oi, Sercomtel and TIM Brasil.
Reportedly, license fees on the spectrum will be slashed (September 30, 2020) commsupdate.com

The Canadian Radio-television and countries via a network of thousands of low-Earth orbit
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) issued (LEO) satellites, with around 770 satellites already in
Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) a Basic orbit. Starlink is currently testing a 100Mbps-capable
International Telecommunications Services (BITS) internet service with selected users in several US
Canada license on 15 October 2020, which the US-based states, and SpaceX head Elon Musk indicated earlier
company had applied for five months earlier. SpaceX’s this month that a wider Starlink public beta test in the
Starlink project aims to offer high speed internet US and southern Canada is lined up in the short term.
access across parts of the US, Canada and other (October 21, 2020) commsupdate.com

Chadian telecoms watchdog the Regulatory Authority not impact service quality. Meanwhile, President Idriss
for Electronic Communications and Post (L’Autorite de Deby has issued a decree ordering the implementation
Regulation des Communications Electroniques et des of number portability (NP). The decree requires ARCEP
Postes, ARCEP) has issued a decision to align tariffs to define the terms and conditions for the portability
Chad for off-net and on-net communications. The decision service, and to work with providers to establish a
– the text of which was posted to the regulator’s system for porting numbers. The cost of setting up and
Facebook page – requires providers to set off-net maintaining the system is to be covered by operators
tariffs to match their on-net tariffs. Providers were via licenses for numbering resources.
also instructed to take all measures to ensure that (October 21, 2020) commsupdate.com
any increase in traffic resulting from the order does

134 SEP-OCT 2020