4. Determination of reference speeds

Holding information conveyed by NOS and by VODAFONE on the ranked list of customers, in compliance with point 2.4. and Annex 1 of decision of 21.03.2014, ANACOM calculated, for each company, the respective reference speed, by applying the formula indicated in section 2, having identified the customer in the lowest quartile of relevant commercial offers of each company. This exercise confirmed values presented by these companies for the respective reference speeds.

It follows from the application of this formula that the data transmission speed allowed by the mobile broadband service, to be provided in parishes where a coverage obligation is in force, under article 34 of the Auction Regulation, and pursuant to ANACOM’s determination of 21.03.2014, corresponds to the following speeds:

• In the case of NOS - 4 Mbps; and
• In the case of VODAFONE - 7.2 Mbps.

As far as MEO is concerned, it is found that, although this Authority repeatedly conveyed its views on the issue and successively requested relevant data from this company, the information conveyed on 10.12.2014 fails to comply with ANACOM’s decision of 21.03.2014. This results from the fact that the ranking of customers and of offers of the mobile phone internet access service was not undertaken on the basis of associated maximum download speeds, as determined by the Auction Regulation, and consequently by decision of 21.03.2014, but rather on the basis of «the actual speed verified on the national territory by measuring the average speed experienced with the use of 3G technology, in mobility tests carried out throughout the streets of district capitals, where downloading sessions of files of a relevant size (several Gbps) are held».

In the light of the above and whereas:

• “Condições de Oferta e de Utilização de Serviços de Comunicações Eletrónicas da PT Comunicações, S.A.” (Conditions for Offer and Use of Electronic Communications Services provided by PT Comunicações, S.A.)¹indicate maximum speeds associated to offers of the mobile phone internet access service made available by MEO on 31.03.2014, which correspond to maximum download speeds of 43.2Mbs (3G network) and 150 Mbps (4G network);
• The number of customers who subscribed MEO’s offers of the mobile phone internet access service is so high², compared to the relevant range for the purpose of the determination of the reference speed, that maximum download speeds of offers subscribed by such customers determine, on their own, the value of such speed [Beginning of Confidential Information] [End of Confidential Information];
• The Auction Regulation establishes coverage obligations for the 800 MHz band under articles 33, paragraph 2b), and 34, and these obligations may only be fulfilled using the 800 MHz and 900 MHz frequency bands according to titles issued to the three mobile operators;
• A “150 Mbps speed”, considering a theoretical peak download data rate using LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology, and given the available 10 MHz bandwidth in the 800 MHz band, is only likely to be made available in the current state of the technology, under ideal and very special conditions, requiring among other aspects the use of MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) 4x4 and not considering the necessary broadcasting and synchronization channels. As such, the referred 150 Mbps speed is not deemed realistically to be achievable taking into consideration the spectrum currently allocated in the 800 MHz band³;
• This limitation conditions the correspondence between offers of the mobile phone internet access service provided by MEO and subscribed by its customers and maximum download speeds for mobile phone internet offers disclosed in “Condições de Oferta e de Utilização de Serviços de Comunicações Eletrónicas da PT Comunicações, S.A.”, given that only the 43.2 Mbps may be realistically achieved;

it is deemed that the maximum speed associated to MEO’s offers of the mobile phone internet access service is 43.2 Mbps, thus from the application of the formula indicated in section 2 it follows that the data transmission speed allowed by the mobile broadband service, to be provided in parishes where a coverage obligation is in force, under article 34 of the Auction Regulation and in compliance with ANACOM’s determination of 21.03.2014, corresponds, in MEO’s case, to 43.2 Mbps.