Page 158 - SAMENA Trends - September 2019

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

signed on Monday 9 September and will enter force 30 The Polish government is planning to begin its auction
days later. Poland’s Parliament, the Sejm, agreed at the of 5G-capable 3.5GHz licenses in December 2019 or
end of August to adopt the Mega Act after a number January 2020, a report from Telko.in says. The telecoms
of amendments were introduced over the past few regulator, the Office of Electronic Communications
months. The Mega Act is designed to make it easier (Urzad Komunikacji Elektronicznej, UKE), will offer four
for companies to roll out broadband infrastructure blocks, each of 80MHz, in the 3.4GHz-3.8GHz band,
by removing some of the existing administrative and with two of these having nationwide coverage and the
legal barriers, while also improving rights of access other two being ‘supra-regional’ to exclude parts of the
in sensitive areas such as national parks and nature country where the required frequencies are already in
reserves. Measures are also included to ease some of use. With four licenses on offer and four main cellcos
the restrictions on emissions from radio signals, while expected to participate, the auction is expected to be
a Broadband Fund will be established with an annual over quickly, with the only battle being for nationwide
budget of PLN140 million (USD36 million) which will be versus supra-regional concessions. UKE intends to
used to co-finance network deployments in rural areas. allocate licenses to operators by 30 June 2020. (September
The improvements will help speed up network builds 4, 2019) telegeography.com
and also lead to lower rollout costs for operators, the
government has said. (September 11, 2019) Gazeta Prawna

Russia’s State Commission for Radio Frequencies to the government by the end of September and the
(SCRF) is considering holding auctions for 5G roadmap’s final draft will be submitted at the end of
spectrum licenses in the millimeter wave (mmWave) December. (September 20, 2019) ComNews
25.25GHz-27.5GHz range in Q1 2020, and will make
Russia a decision on the draft proposal in mid-October Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov told that
limited frequencies within the 3.4GHz-3.8GHz spectrum
2019, according to information supplied to Russian
newspaper Izvestia by Communications Ministry band could potentially be converted to 5G mobile usage
representative Evgeny Novikov and two other unnamed in large cities, although the bulk of the band is likely to
federal/market sources. According to the draft, eleven remain allocated to special satellite communications
mmWave frequency slots will be up for auction, with for military/intelligence usage. The conversion of
licenses valid for ten years. License coverage will be the entire 3.4GHz-3.8GHz band represents a major
Federation-wide, although certain zones will be off- obstacle as it would involve replacement of all the
limits for 5G services, for instance five 5km zones in the satellite equipment, Borisov noted. Meanwhile, Russia’s
Moscow region are reportedly being reserved for future ‘big four’ cellcos MTS, MegaFon, Beeline and Tele2
Roscosmos satellite receiving stations. The report also have agreed to work together on ‘clearing’ frequencies
notes that the methodology for calculating the cost at 3.5GHz-3.8GHz for 5G network development, Tele2’s
of frequencies has yet to be established. In related parent Rostelecom’s president Mikhail Oseevsky told
news, nationwide fixed network operator Rostelecom reporters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic
and state corporation Rostec have created a council Forum, as reported by ComNews. Russia’s draft
to implement the agreement they signed in July with roadmap for the development of wireless technologies
the federal government to create a ‘5G roadmap’ for says that clearance of the 3.4GHz-3.8GHz and
the development of the technology in Russia. The 35 694MHz-790MHz bands for 5G should be completed
‘preliminary targets’ of the roadmap will be submitted in 2019-2022. (September 5, 2019) Daily Vedomosti

The Agency for Communications Networks & Services at fixed locations’. Alongside this the watchdog has
(Agencija za komunikacijska omrezja in storitve, AKOS) opened a tender to find a directory services operator.
has invited applications for a universal service provider State-backed Telekom Slovenije and its directories
‘for connection to a public communications network subsidiary Teledat are the country’s current universal
and for access to publicly available telephone services service providers. (September 23, 2019) telegeography.com
Slovenia

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