Regulation Corner - 11/11/08

France: a new bill would limit first, then stop (from 2012 onwards) TV ads on public TV channels. Privately-owned channels, telecom operators and ISPs will fund back a 0,9% tax over their turnover to public channels. In a separate announcement, the Secretary of state Eric Besson said that the government is planning to establish a second option for DTT offer (currently 18 channels are available free of charge).

French telecom regulator, Arcep, plans to cap mobile termination rates in order to reduce rates charged to fixed operators.

France Telecom will miss its target of 1m FTTH customers by the end of 2008, blaming regulatory problems due to Arcep regulator.

Rwanda has been granted a $24m loan from the World Bank to fund its plan of constructing broadband infrastructure for 700 buildings, including schools, hospitals and health centers and local government offices.

S. Korea: The Korea Communications Commission has asked local broadband operators to guarantee a minimum speed of 30Mbit/s for 100Mbit/s plans. In case of failure to reach this promised speed, customers would be entitled to be reimbursed.

Romania has launched the fixed as well as mobile number portability (MNP) system.

The Ecuadorian government announces the creation of a Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology to manage the existing sub-secretariats, public companies and regulatory agencies.

Hungarian regulator, NHH, announced tenders for two new GSM licenses, one is the fourth GSM/UMTS license in the 900-1800-2100 MHz band, while the second is in the 450 MHz band,

FCC approved the Verizon -Alltel merger (under conditions of divesting in some 105 overlapping markets and complying with roaming agreements) but also the Sprint Nextel- Clearwire merger. It also allowed unlicensed devices to operate in vacant broadcast spectrum known as white spaces, despite risks of interferences with broadcast signals. Broadcasters and mobile operators lobbied against the decision, while telcos and high-tech companies applaud the ruling.

New Zealand: The Telecommunications Users Association (TUANZ) asked the government to set up a "National Digital Architecture'' and a new agency to better coordinate communication infrastructure investments.

Panama asked telecom companies to share towers.

OFCOM (UK) plans to sell spectrum in the 2GHz band in March 09.

Mobile 3.0 (Germany) is returning its DVB-H license as it cannot fulfill the conditions of the license.

Senegal: the government plans to terminate the mobile license of the Tigo mobile phone network (1.8m customers), granted in 1998 and valid for 20 years.

Morocco announced plans to award a 3G license.