Page 147 - SAMENA Trends - September-October 2020
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REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES  SAMENA TRENDS

                         to make it easier for us to build more towers quicker   and  micro  cell  sites  and  more  than  20,000  LTE  base
                         will  be a  big help in  terms of improving coverage …   stations  scattered  across  the  country.’  Building  out
                         Towers  are just one  element  in the  mobile  network   more towers is also deemed ‘crucial’ to the telco’s 5G
                         infrastructure  of  PLDT,  and  we  have  both  fixed  and   deployment strategy, he added.
                         mobile  infrastructures. We have about 10,000 macro   (September 16, 2020) commsupdate.com




                         Polish telcos say they do not see a need for 26GHz 5G   aimed at achieving the target set by the government.
                         frequencies arising before 2022 or 2023. Responding   In  August  2020,  Orange  Poland  established  a  fiber
                         to  a  consultation  run  by  the  country’s  telecoms   network unit named FiberCo and announced plans to
                         regulator UKE, cellcos Orange, Play, T-Mobile and Plus   offload a stake in the new company once it finds an
        Poland           said that there would be no need to allocate millimeter   interested investor. The operator targets to reach 5.0
                                                                        million homes passed with  FTTH  by  2020,  having
                         wave (mmWave) spectrum any earlier as there would
                         be  no end-user equipment  available prior  to that.   already  covered  4.4  million  Polish  households  as  of
                         Telko.in reports that Orange and Play favor nationwide   March 2020. Moreover, in October 2019, the operator
                         licensing, while T-Mobile and Netia (sister company of   acquired  the  fiber  network  of  regional  fiber  operator
                         Plus) lean more towards licenses being  allocated  on   Netspeed  to  expand  its  fiber  footprint.  In  May  2020,
                         a local basis, to help boost network capacity in high   telco  Cyfrowy  Polsat  signed  a  fiber  network  access
                         demand areas. The Polish government is expected to   agreement  with  wholesale network  operator Nexera.
                         launch an auction for 3.7GHz spectrum by the end of   The wholesale operator is deploying fiber infrastructure
                         this year. (October 15, 2020) commsupdate.com   under the Digital Poland 2020 agenda. T-Mobile Poland
                                                                        has  also  strengthened  its  fixed  broadband  footprint
                         The Ministry of Digitization aims to expand fiber-to-the-  countrywide through  a partnership  deal  with Nexera
                         home (FTTH) network coverage to 100% of households   as  well as rival  telco  Orange for its FTTH  services.
                         by 2022. The government and state broadband fund will   In line with Poland’s fiber homes passed targets and
                         continue to subsidize FTTH broadband rollouts in rural   telcos’ network expansions, research firm GlobalData
                         areas where it  is  not economically  viable for telcos.   forecasts FTTH subscriptions to reach the 7.0m mark
                         There  are several  developments  from  local telcos   by the end of 2025. (September 30, 2020) verdict.co.uk




                         The National Authority for Management and Regulation   in Communications  (ANCOM), said  at  an  industry
                         in Communications  (ANCOM) has launched  a     conference the planned auction could be pushed back
                         preliminary public consultation on whether to allocate   until  2021,  reported  TeleGeography’s  CommsUpdate.
                         spectrum in the 2300MHz-2335MHz range for mobile   Lovin explained the government had not yet finalized
        Romania          broadband  services. The regulator  notes  that its   and  publish  the  needed  legislation  in  the  official
                                                                        gazette, for which ANCOM  must  analyze  and  adjust
                         preliminary analysis will consider the following issues:
                         the degree of harmonization of the 2300MHz band at   auction terms if needed. Any changes will be subject to
                         international  and European  level; the availability  of   a public consultation which could take up to 30 days.
                         equipment  in the band;  its  technical  characteristics;   The executive noted although commercial 5G services
                         the situation regarding  allocation  of the 2300MHz   are available now in Romania,  he  labelled  them  as
                         band in Europe; and the availability of spectrum in the   demonstrative services that do not fulfil the true reach
                         2300MHz-2335MHz  range  in Romania,  taking into   of 5G, reported newspaper Bursa. Orange Romania was
                         account  existing  applications  in this and adjacent   the first operator to launch 5G services in November
                         sub-bands  with  which  mobile/fixed  communication   2019, initially connecting the country’s main cities –
                         networks must coexist. Interested parties are invited to   Bucharest,  Cluj-Napoca  and  Iasi.  The  network  had
                         submit their comments by 20 November.          since  expanded  to  Timisoara,  Brasov,  Constanta  and
                         (October 23, 2020) commsupdate.com             Mamaia.  ANCOM previously indicated  it  would hold
                                                                        an auction in Q1 this year but this was postponed due
                         Romania saw  a  setback with  its  telecoms  regulator   to a memorandum signed by Romania and the US for
                         stating it  would be impossible to issue interested   the development of safe 5G technologies, to safeguard
                         parties 5G licenses,  at  a  scheduled  auction  in the   nations from high–risk suppliers.
                         fourth  quarter  of  this  year.  Eduard  Lovin,  VP  of  the   (September 20, 2020) developingtelecoms.com
                         National Authority  for Administration  and Regulation






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