Page 105 - SAMENA Trends - November-December 2022

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) is not says the new government under Giorgia Meloni aims
now expected to make a bid to acquire the fixed network to set up a working committee to find the ‘best viable
assets of Telecom Italia (TIM), with the government market solutions’ for TIM by the end of the year, ‘to
now looking at new options for the telco’s future. Italy’s maximize the interests of the country, of the companies
Italy previous administration had wanted to push through involved and of their shareholders and stakeholders’.
the spin-off and sale of TIM’s fixed infrastructure, with
Butti favors a plan where CDP takes full control of TIM
this then merged with CDP-backed wholesale operator and then sells off its service business and subsidiary
Open Fiber to create a single national network under in Brazil. The remaining network operations would be
government control. CDP had been due to submit a non- merged with Open Fiber. CDP owns 60% of Open Fiber
binding offer for the TIM assets by today (30 November). and almost 10% of TIM. TIM’s largest investor is Vivendi
Reuters cites a statement from Industry Minister Adolfo of France with a 24% interest.
Urso and cabinet undersecretary Alessio Butti which (November 30, 2022) www.commsupdate.com

Japan’s new fourth mobile operator Rakuten Mobile people were hit by the data transmission disruption,
has received a slap on the wrist from the Japanese caused by a software malfunction in equipment at
government which, issuing Administrative Guidance a data center. The MIC has since inspected the data
to the company, warned it not to repeat the ‘massive center to ensure that corrective measures are being
Japan disruptions’ of its voice and data services that affected put in place, with Rakuten Mobile President Shunsuke
many of its customers in September this year. The Yazawa saying: ‘We solemnly accept the instruction
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and will thoroughly follow it on a companywide basis.
noted that the outages affected some 110,000 people (December 12, 2022) www.commsupdate.com
in terms of voice call service failures and 1.3 million

The Telecommunications Committee of Kazakhstan’s is KZT1.761 billion (USD7.34 million), while qualified
Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation & Aerospace bidders must operate existing telecoms networks
Industry (MDAI) has placed two 1×100MHz blocks of covering at least six regions. Kazakhstan’s mobile
5G mobile frequency spectrum in the bands 3600MHz- network operators – Kcell and Tele2-Altel (both part of
Kyrgyzstan 3700MHz and 3700MHz-3800MHz on the electronic the Kazakhtelecom group) and private sector rival KaR-
Tel (Beeline) – have all launched pilot 5G network zones
trading platform E-auction.gosreestr.kz for an auction
beginning on 20 December 2022. As reported by Kazakh but are awaiting commercial 5G licensing.
news site Profit.kz, the starting bid price for one block (November 30, 2022) www.commsupdate.com

South Africa’s Vodacom Group has revealed that the (UAF) obligations and failure to appoint an independent
Lesotho High Court has issued an order setting aside external auditor, as required by the terms of its operating
a number decisions of the Lesotho Communications license and the Lesotho Companies Act, 2011. While
Authority (LCA), following an amicable and negotiated some of these issues were resolved in early 2020, in
Lesotho settlement agreement between the parties. This includes September that year the LCA fined Vodacom a total of
a decision by the LCA to revoke the operating license of
LSL134 million (USD7.7 million), before the following
Vodacom Lesotho. In the same order, which was issued month saying it was revoking the operator’s license for
on 1 November, Vodacom Lesotho was directed to failure to pay the penalty. Vodacom lodged an application
make a payment of ZAR4 million (USD231,000) to the in the High Court to have both determinations reviewed
LCA. The dispute between the LCA and Vodacom dates and set aside, and the court subsequently issued an
back to 2019, when the regulator accused Vodacom interim order to prevent the license revocation and the
of a number of infringements, including failure to pay enforcement of the fine.
regulatory fees, failure to meet Universal Access Fund (November 15, 2022) www.commsupdate.com

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