Page 147 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

to make it easier for us to build more towers quicker and micro cell sites and more than 20,000 LTE base
will be a big help in terms of improving coverage … stations scattered across the country.’ Building out
Towers are just one element in the mobile network more towers is also deemed ‘crucial’ to the telco’s 5G
infrastructure of PLDT, and we have both fixed and deployment strategy, he added.
mobile infrastructures. We have about 10,000 macro (September 16, 2020) commsupdate.com

Polish telcos say they do not see a need for 26GHz 5G aimed at achieving the target set by the government.
frequencies arising before 2022 or 2023. Responding In August 2020, Orange Poland established a fiber
to a consultation run by the country’s telecoms network unit named FiberCo and announced plans to
regulator UKE, cellcos Orange, Play, T-Mobile and Plus offload a stake in the new company once it finds an
Poland said that there would be no need to allocate millimeter interested investor. The operator targets to reach 5.0
million homes passed with FTTH by 2020, having
wave (mmWave) spectrum any earlier as there would
be no end-user equipment available prior to that. already covered 4.4 million Polish households as of
Telko.in reports that Orange and Play favor nationwide March 2020. Moreover, in October 2019, the operator
licensing, while T-Mobile and Netia (sister company of acquired the fiber network of regional fiber operator
Plus) lean more towards licenses being allocated on Netspeed to expand its fiber footprint. In May 2020,
a local basis, to help boost network capacity in high telco Cyfrowy Polsat signed a fiber network access
demand areas. The Polish government is expected to agreement with wholesale network operator Nexera.
launch an auction for 3.7GHz spectrum by the end of The wholesale operator is deploying fiber infrastructure
this year. (October 15, 2020) commsupdate.com under the Digital Poland 2020 agenda. T-Mobile Poland
has also strengthened its fixed broadband footprint
The Ministry of Digitization aims to expand fiber-to-the- countrywide through a partnership deal with Nexera
home (FTTH) network coverage to 100% of households as well as rival telco Orange for its FTTH services.
by 2022. The government and state broadband fund will In line with Poland’s fiber homes passed targets and
continue to subsidize FTTH broadband rollouts in rural telcos’ network expansions, research firm GlobalData
areas where it is not economically viable for telcos. forecasts FTTH subscriptions to reach the 7.0m mark
There are several developments from local telcos by the end of 2025. (September 30, 2020) verdict.co.uk

The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM), said at an industry
in Communications (ANCOM) has launched a conference the planned auction could be pushed back
preliminary public consultation on whether to allocate until 2021, reported TeleGeography’s CommsUpdate.
spectrum in the 2300MHz-2335MHz range for mobile Lovin explained the government had not yet finalized
Romania broadband services. The regulator notes that its and publish the needed legislation in the official
gazette, for which ANCOM must analyze and adjust
preliminary analysis will consider the following issues:
the degree of harmonization of the 2300MHz band at auction terms if needed. Any changes will be subject to
international and European level; the availability of a public consultation which could take up to 30 days.
equipment in the band; its technical characteristics; The executive noted although commercial 5G services
the situation regarding allocation of the 2300MHz are available now in Romania, he labelled them as
band in Europe; and the availability of spectrum in the demonstrative services that do not fulfil the true reach
2300MHz-2335MHz range in Romania, taking into of 5G, reported newspaper Bursa. Orange Romania was
account existing applications in this and adjacent the first operator to launch 5G services in November
sub-bands with which mobile/fixed communication 2019, initially connecting the country’s main cities –
networks must coexist. Interested parties are invited to Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Iasi. The network had
submit their comments by 20 November. since expanded to Timisoara, Brasov, Constanta and
(October 23, 2020) commsupdate.com Mamaia. ANCOM previously indicated it would hold
an auction in Q1 this year but this was postponed due
Romania saw a setback with its telecoms regulator to a memorandum signed by Romania and the US for
stating it would be impossible to issue interested the development of safe 5G technologies, to safeguard
parties 5G licenses, at a scheduled auction in the nations from high–risk suppliers.
fourth quarter of this year. Eduard Lovin, VP of the (September 20, 2020) developingtelecoms.com
National Authority for Administration and Regulation

147 SEP-OCT 2020