World Dialogue on Regulation

TRAI, the telecommunications regulator, is recommending the removal of limits on the number of licensed operators, the relaxation of mergers and acquisition regulations, technology neutrality for telecom licenses, and a requirement that both GSM and CDMA players pay an entry fee and a higher spectrum fee for additional 2G radio frequency.

TRAI wants to establish a committee to develop new spectrum allocation criteria. The committee would consist of representatives from the department of telecommunications, the Telecom Engineering Centre, TRAI, the wireless planning and co-ordination department and operators' associations. TRAI has already proposed increasing spectrum fees and instituting an entry fee for spectrum allocation above 10 Mhz for GSM operators and 5 Mhz for CDMA operators.

TRAI’s proposals would mean operators offering dual technologies will be subject to an entry fee, which is equivalent to the amount for obtaining a new license for that service area. This implies a CDMA operator such as Reliance Communications, which has applied for GSM spectrum across the country, must pay an entry fee of US$ 413 million to offer these services on a pan-India level.

Currently, 2G spectrum works in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands. According to TRAI, "in future all spectrum, excluding the spectrum in 800, 900 and 1800 bands, should be auctioned so as to ensure efficient utilisation of this scarce resource."

On mergers and acquisitions (M&As), TRAI is recommending a doubling of the crossholding limit by one operator in another to 20%. It also wants to abolish the 15 Mhz limit for spectrum held by merged entities in any circle. In addition, TRAI wants safeguards so that M&As cannot happen if the combined market share of the two operators exceed 40% either in terms of subscribers or revenues, or if the process reduces the number of operators in a circle to fewer than four.

TRAI is recommending that license conditions regarding roll-out obligations be changed so that operators are given incentives in the form of reduced contributions to the universal access service fund for meeting their roll-out targets. Instead of threatening operators with license termination, TRAI wants performance bank guarantees of those operators who fail to meet roll-out obligations within the stipulated 52 weeks to be forfeited and the operator be asked to resubmit the same amount as a fresh guarantee. In addition, such operators would not be allocated additional spectrum and be banned from participating in spectrum auctions.

Source: The Economic Times - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

Algeria’s Post and Telecommunications Regulation Authority (ARPT) denies that it contributed to financial losses at Lacom, the country’s second national fixed line operator.

The ARPT has released a statement responding to Egypt Telecom officials who accused the authority of being responsible for the US$ 45 million losses incurred by Lacom. The statement says that the ARPT has taken "all the required measures that encourage fair competition in post and telecommunication market." It goes on to say that the ARPT "requested from Algerie Telecom to stop immediately its special offer of last July 5, while offering WLL phones for free", after a complaint was submitted by Lacom.

Lacom’s owners are looking for a way of ceasing operations without incurring further losses as the company is facing bankruptcy.

Source: El Khabar and TeleGeography - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

The government of Bangladesh will auction Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) licenses for private operators in October.

The telecommunications authority announced that the government has approved the International Long Distance Telecommunication Services (ILDTS) Policy, 2007 to liberalize VoIP. The government has established a three-tier telecommunications infrastructure. The first stage is international gateways connected to submarine cables and interconnection exchanges. The second stage is interconnection exchanges linked to the international gateways and access network service (ANS). The final stage is direct service to customers.

The new policy marks the end of the government’s monopoly over international gateways (IGWs). The government has decided to auction licenses for three IGWs and two interconnect exchanges (ICXs). Under the ILDTS policy, no foreign companies, including existing fixed and mobile operators, will be eligible to participate in the auction.

All three IGWs will be set up in Dhaka and connected to the state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) submarine cable. The two ICX licenses will involve two exchanges being set up in Dhaka and one each in four other cities. The government will also issue a license for an Internet exchange (IX) for the private sector. Only Dhaka and south-eastern Chittagong will have an exchange to provide the access network service (ANS) operators with data services.

Under the new policy, the government will not issue fresh licenses for VSAT and the existing VSATs will be shut down in phases.

The BTRC will invite applications for the licenses in September and then hold the auction in October. The private international phone services are expected to begin by April 2008.

Source: Xinhua - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

Rwanda’s government intends to sell as much as 70% Rwandatel.

Three weeks ago, Rwanda’s government bought back Rwandatel for US$ 12 million, having sold it to private firm Terracom for $20 million. Terracom was forced to sell due to poor management and failing to deliver on contractual obligations, including the roll-out of a new mobile network.

"Privatisation Secretariat invites internationally recognised and reputable telecommunications operators or consortia to acquire the bidding documents and submit their bids for the acquisition of a majority stake up to 70 percent in Rwandatel/Terracom SA," the bid document said.

Interested bidders are to submit technical and financial proposals by September 5. Bidders are also required to have the financial resources necessary to implement a plan to boost telecommunications in Rwanda.

Source: Reuters - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

The Argentine unit of Telmex has asked SeCom, the telecommunications ministry, for the radio spectrum required to offer CDMA450 fixed wireless service in 25 communities.

Telmex intends to provide wireless voice and data in the provinces of San Luis, Mendoza, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, Tucumán, Santiago del Estero, Chaco, Córdoba, Entre Ríos, Río Negro and Corrientes. Telmex's deployment could encourage wider adoption of CDMA450 technology in Argentina, the CDMA Development Group’s Latin America director Celedonio von Wuthenau said.

CDMA450 is currently available in the town of El Calafate in the southern province of Santa Cruz, where provincial cooperative CoTeCal deployed a network in October 2006. The technology is also being used in Villa Gesell in the Buenos Aires province, operated by local telephony cooperative Cotel, von Wuthenau said. According to Argentine regulations, operators can only offer CDMA450 service in communities with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants, meaning that Telmex will use the technology in areas where it may not be economically viable to roll out WiMax.

In January, Telmex started using CDMA450 technology instead of WiMax in certain rural areas in Mexico. In May, Bolivia's military said it was deploying a CDMA450 fixed wireless network to assist with national security issues and for providing rural telephony to isolated regions.

Telmex also has a WiMax strategy in Argentina. In June, a court handling the debt restructuring of investment group Sociedad Comercial del Plata (SCP) authorised the sale of SCP's broadband access solutions provider Ertach to Telmex. Ertach's goal for 2007 is to migrate 70% of its nationwide network to WiMax technology. Telmex Argentina is the country's third largest telecommunications provider, behind Telefónica Argentina and Telecom Argentina.

Source: Business News Americas - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.

Benin’s telecommunications regulator, the Transitional Posts and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATRPT), will open the country’s GSM mobile sector to interested investors.

An ATRPT statement said the government is calling on all interested investors to apply for licenses to commence operations immediately. This step was taken as a result of the situation created by the July 12 suspension of the operating licenses of Areeba and Telecel. The operators say that they simply changed their names while the government has maintained that the transactions conducted by the two companies involved the unlawful sale of operating licenses. According to laws governing the telecommunications sector in the country, such a move must be sanctioned by the ATRPT.

Following the suspension of the two companies, only Libercom and Bell Benin remain operational. The two operators lack the capacity to absorb the nearly 900,000 subscribers who have been left without mobile service after Areeba and Telecel were suspended. Companies that have shown interest in Benin's GSM sector include Nigeria’s Globacom, which says it is prepared to abide by new regulations requiring the payment of US$ 62.7 million for a ten year mobile license.

Source: Xinhua - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News.