On 31 March 2015, VODAFONE requested of ANACOM, under articles 20 and 33, paragraph 3, of ECL, the amendment of the date of expiry of its RUF, seeking its postponement up to 5 May 2018.
Bearing in mind that it was required to rule on the request for amendment submitted by VODAFONE and that, in observance of the principles of impartiality and proportionality, the situation of other operators who obtained UMTS licenses under the same conditions should be taken into account, ANACOM took the view that the decision to be made, in the specific procedure on this last application made by VODAFONE, would necessarily influence ongoing renewal procedures, and could alter assumptions of corresponding applications outlined above.
As such, having concluded that the decision to be taken in the procedure for the amendment of the period of validity of VODAFONE’s RUF represented a preliminary issue under paragraph 1 of article 38 of the (new) Administrative Procedure Code (approved by Decree-Law No. 4/2015, of 7 January), ANACOM determined, on 10 April 2015, the suspension of procedures for the renewal of RUF held by NOS, MEO and VODAFONE, until a final decision on the request submitted by VODAFONE on 31 March 2015 was adopted.
By determination of 18 June 2015, ANACOM approved a draft decision on the amendment of the period of validity of VODAFONE’s RUF, having considered that there was no reason why NOS and MEO should be treated differently; consequently, in case these companies also applied for a postponement of the date of expiry of the respective RUF, such request would be decided in the same line as VODAFONE’s.
After having assessed this draft decision, VODAFONE, on 24 July 2015 and on the basis of the assumption that ANACOM would determine the amendment of periods of validity of RUF, restated its application for RUF renewal, referring to the terms of the application previously submitted to ANACOM.
In the scope of its assessment to the draft decision, submitted on 27 July 2015, MEO requested the extension of the period of validity of its RUF to 21 April 2018.
By determination of 22 October 2015, ANACOM determined the amendment of the period of validity of RUF held by VODAFONE and MEO, under draft endorsements to the respective titles in annex to the decision, having granted NOS a period of 5 working days to request, if the company so wished, the amendment of the date of expiry of its RUF.
ANACOM determined also that amendments of periods of validity of RUF held by VODAFONE and MEO would only take effect with the decision of final approval of endorsements to the respective titles, which would only be adopted further to the expiry of the time limit granted to NOS.
On 28 October 2015, NOS submitted a request for amendment of the date of expiry of its RUF to 4 July 2018, referring to the terms defined in ANACOM’s decision of 22 October 2015.
In this context, on 17 November 2015, ANACOM approved endorsements to RUF held by VODAFONE, MEO and NOS, which thus now expire on 5 May 2018, 21 April 2018 and 4 June 2018, respectively.
Consequently, procedures for renewal of the referred RUF resumed their course.