Regulation Corner - 04/05/08
FCC and a court decision force Sprint Nextel to vacate 800 MHz frequencies by June 26, to eliminate interference to various public-safety radio systems.
FCC has also voted in favor of capping the Universal Service Fund (USF) that is used to help fund telecom deployments in rural areas.
Costa Rica continues its process to liberalize the telecom market. The Congress has approved the bill.
Mexico: COFECO, the local fair competition agency, is starting a new (8th) probe of the local telecom mobile market.
Anatel, Brazil' s regulator, granted 3G frequencies under some contractual obligations (mainly scheduled coverage) for the winning bidders, TIM Brazil and Claro.
Ecuador: Conatel said that the government has no plans to reconsider its decision to end negotiations with America Movil, and therefore to takeover its operations.
Bolivia is nationalizing back the leading Bolivian telecom company Entel (a Telecom Italia unit since 1995).
France: the government has asked ARCEP (the local telecom regulator) to consider how best to allocate the country's last remaining 3G license.
Bulgaria plans to auction a block of GSM 1800 spectrum and issue a new GSM license.
Turkey announced it will mandate number portability to be launched by year-end.
Zimbabwe: the Telecommunications Operators Association of Zimbabwe (Toaz) recommends telecom operators to share their network infrastructure.