UPDATE: ANCOM pushes broadband license attribution two years further

UPDATE: The National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communication (ANCOM) announced it has set a new date for the attribution of the licenses in the bandwidth 3400- 3800 MHz. This is 2014, which is two years later than originally proposed by the authority.

“Following the public consultation process, ANCOM has decided that the procedure of selection for the national licenses in the bandwidth 3410 – 3800 MHz would start in 2014,instead of 2012, as initially proposed,” goes the telecom regulator’s press release.

Romania has recently been chided by European officials for the pitiful degree to which it provides internet access to its population, with more than half of Romanians unable to get online. The telecom regulator is taking steps to remedy this situation, announcing that it will place at the disposal of the operators a number of national and county licenses in the 3400-3800 MHz bandwidth in the years to come.

”That 54 percent of the Romanian population does not have access to the internet is unacceptable. In Europe, only 26 percent of people do not go online. The internet is important, not only from an economic but also a social viewpoint,” said Neelie Kroes, vice-president of the European Commission and European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, during the conference the Digital Agenda for Romania.

Kroes stressed the importance of hiking the internet penetration rate in all European states, which will boost the competitiveness of the European market.

However, the Romanian authorities are making promises.”We have committed to boost the internet access rate to over 90 percent by 2015 and we will cover at least 90 percent of the 3,648 blank areas (en – areas with no internet access),” assured the minister of communications, Valerian Vreme. ”Romania is in seventh place in the ranking of countries that have adopted advanced technologies. We are also in 16th spot for broadband internet connections, and last year broadband connections increased by 6 percent – but it is not enough,” conceded Vreme.

One of the stipulations of the EU Digital Agenda, which comes under the umbrella of the 2020 European Strategy, is to supply high speed internet to the citizens of the European Union as well as covering areas that are disadvantaged from the point of view of electronic communications.

”The growth in the internet penetration rate is necessary not only in Romania but also at European level, since currently 26 percent of European citizens do not use the internet. Moreover, we have to focus on those who risk lagging behind, more precisely those with low incomes and little education who live in underprivileged areas. The digital evolution is our chance to ensure economic growth,” said Kroes.

According to data from the National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM), there has been growth in internet access. The number of fixed broadband internet connections went up by 6 percent last year compared to 2009, reaching 3 million in total at the end of 2010. At the same time, the number of mobile internet connections performed even better, soaring by 37 percent to reach 4.02 million at the end of 2010.

The degree of penetration of fixed broadband internet connections was 14 per 100 inhabitants at the end of last year. The rate of penetration per 100 households had reached 36.8 percent.

Meanwhile, the telecom regulator is making plans to award national and county licenses in the 3400-3800 MHz bandwidth. This falls under the Strategy Document for the Implementation and Development of BWA Systems Nationally, which is to be rolled out between 2011 and 2020.

In the case of the national licenses, ANCOM was planning to start a selection procedure next year which will award three national licenses in the 3410-3600 MHz bandwidth and another four in the 3600-3800 MHz range. County licenses will be in the bandwidth 3410-3600 MHz and will only be assigned from 2014. This will also take place after a selection procedure is organized in every county for three such licenses.

The winners of the national licenses have the right to use them for a period of ten years from issue. The rights to use the radio frequencies are granted from January 2014. The winners of the county licenses be able to use them for a period of eight years. The rights to use the radio frequencies will be granted from January 2016.

”It is still premature to estimate the extent to which the gap between the urban and rural environments will be closed after the awarding of these licenses,” Catalin Marinescu, president of ANCOM, told BR. This is because the project is in a very early stage. The public consultation has just closed, and no taskbook has yet been drafted. ”Up to this point, the authority has received observations from two interested parties. After the end of the public consultation procedure, ANCOM will publish a cross-section of the comments on its internet page,” said Marinescu.

”We are awaiting with interest the drawing up of the strategy and conditions for the assignment of the licenses in the 3400-3800 MHz bandwidth but also strategies related to other frequencies (800MHz, 2600MHz). Based on this information, we will draft an internal strategy,” Orange representatives told BR.

The early stage of the project is also the reason why other telecom operators such as Vodafone, Cosmote, Romtelecom, RDS&RCS and UPC have refrained from making any official position known to BR.

Next year, ANCOM will start the selection procedures for the national licenses, which will take place in two stages. In the first phase, interested parties will submit to the telecom regulator their firm request to acquire a license in the bandwidth of 3.5 GHz or 3.7 GHz. The second stage will be the actual selection, but this will only occur if the number of bidders is higher than the number of available licenses. If the number of bidders is smaller or equal to that of the licenses on sale, offers will no longer be evaluated and licenses will be granted directly to participants.

Since BWA systems can replace other technologies on radio support used in rural areas, and taking into account the need to reduce the digital gap, operators will be compelled to guarantee that they will make it a priority to cover a certain ratio of small towns and rural areas.

The towns and localities to be covered will be selected by operators from a list issued to them by the telecom regulator before the start of the selection procedures, added Marinescu. The minimum coverage obligations for the national licenses must be fulfilled in several development stages – one year, three years and five years from when the licenses are issued. In the case of the county licenses, the basic coverage criteria will have to be met in development stages of one, two and three years from issue.

otilia.haraga@business-review.ro

internet access
Romanian Figures
3,648 localities in Romania have no internet access
3 million – the number of fixed broadband internet connections at the end of 2010
4.02 million – the number of mobile internet connections at the end of 2010

Data from ANCOM and the Ministry of Communications

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