Page 115 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2024

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

The Ethiopian government reportedly halted a process to stake to an overseas bidder, opting to offer around
potentially offload a 45 per cent stake in Ethio Telecom 10 per cent to local retail investors, who are showing
to foreign bidders, as local investors begin to show a “a huge appetite” for a holding in Ethio Telecom. Ethio
bigger appetite. CEO at Ethiopian Investment Holdings Telecom, the country’s largest operator, will be listed on
Ethiopia Abdurehman Eid told the outlet there were foreign the Ethiopian Securities Exchange that is due to launch
bidders vying for a stake in the state-owned operator,
in October – on track with a plan announced by Prime
“but each of them left the process at one point”. For one, Minister Abiy Ahmed Said. The operator booked more
Orange Group pulled out of a potential deal last year, than 74 million subscribers as of January and gained
telling Mobile World Live (MWL) “the conditions do not $191.6 million profit in the first half of 2024. It was the
allow for the rapid deployment of our strategy”. Emirati only telecoms company operating in the East African
telecoms giant e& was also reported to be among the country until Safaricom entered the market in 2022.
interested parties, but no agreement materialized. There was work being done by the government to find
Bloomberg reported Eid had decided it was “probably a third player.
better to halt the process” of potentially selling the (June 13, 2024) www.mobileworldlive.com

The regulator Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA) confirmed a pilot project for the distribution of TV channels in
that it will extend spectrum licenses in the bands by 5G Broadcast in the city of Halle. The media authority
five years and attach strict coverage obligations. The confirmed this to German industry publication
regulator says it has opted for an extension to eventually Cable!vision Europe. In the tender, published in state
Germany auction the bands alongside spectrum in other bands gazette of federal state Saxony-Anhalt on 29 April 2024,
where licenses are due to expire in 2033. “From our platform providers are invited to submit applications
point of view, there are strong regulatory reasons why a for the allocation of the corresponding broadcast
competitive procedure, commonly known as an auction, capacity. This concerns terrestrial channel 40 at the
should not be carried out” says BNetzA President Klaus Halle transmitter site, which is to be used to test the
Müller. “The primary reason for this is that with an distribution of TV channels in 5G Broadcast. The
extension, we can align the expiry of these usage rights allocation is limited to the duration of the trial of two
with those that are expiring later.” Instead of holding an years with the possibility of an extension. The allocation
auction, BNetzA says it will implement strict coverage is subject to the condition that the local TV broadcaster
obligations for the country’s existing three major mobile licensed for the distribution area is broadcast on the
network operators (MNOs). These are as follows: platform. The applicant must include the platform’s
• By 2030: Cover 99.5 per cent of the country with 50 planned channel lineup and agree to prepare a report
Mbit/s download speed with the results of the project. The applicant must also
• By 2029: Cover 99 per cent of rural households with state when transmissions can commence. According
100 Mbit/s to the magazine article, the aim is to kick off the in
• By 2029: Cover all federal highways with 100 Mbit/s time for the UEFA Euro 2024 Football Championship,
• By 2029: Cover all secondary roads and waterways which starts on 14 June 2024. The pilot project in Halle
with 50 Mbit/s marks the first time that commercial broadcasters can
• By 2030: Cover all country roads with 50 Mbit/s participate. In previous 5G Broadcast trials in Germany,
BNetzA will also charge an assignment fee for the five- only public broadcasters were involved alongside other
year extension, which Müller says will be just below partners, such as the 5G project in Bavaria (BR), the pilot
€800 million. The proposal also includes concessions project by WDR and Vodafone in North Rhine-Westphalia
for the country’s emerging fourth operator 1&1. BNetzA and the 5G Media2Go test run in Baden-Württemberg
says it will require the three national MNOs to share (SWR). A 5G Broadcast-compatible reception device,
at least 2 x 5 MHz of sub-1 GHz spectrum with 1&1 such as a smartphone, tablet or in-car entertainment
and to continue existing roaming agreements with the system, is sufficient. Prototypes are already available.
operator. (May 15, 2024) www.5gobservatory.eu (May 3, 2024) www.broadbandtvnews.com

German media authority MSA has put out a tender for

The Government of Ghana, Ascend Digital, K-NET, deliver affordable 5G mobile broadband services across
Radisys, Nokia and Tech Mahindra, with Mobile Network Ghana. The Next-Gen Infrastructure Company (NGIC)
Operators (MNOs) AT Ghana and Telecel Ghana, have has been awarded 5G license and expected to launch
announced their partnership on a new shared infra 5G services across Ghana within the next six months,
Ghana Next-Gen InfraCo. (NGIC). This collaboration aims to followed by expansion to other parts of Africa. Next-

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