By decision of 9 March 2017 ANACOM approved the Draft Decision (DD) on the methodology and assumptions for the verification of additional coverage obligations in the 2100 MHz band of the 588 parishes potentially lacking mobile broadband. Additionally, the DD included an ad hoc questionnaire for MEO – Serviços de Comunicações e Multimédia, S.A. (hereinafter “MEO”) NOS Comunicações, S.A. (hereinafter “NOS”) and Vodafone Portugal - Comunicações Pessoais, S.A. (hereinafter “VODAFONE”) to provide information on the level of coverage ensured, based on the stations operating in the 2100 MHz band, on the date of renewal of the relevant rights of use of frequencies (21 April 2018, 4 June 2018, and 5 May 2018, respectively), which is when the additional coverage obligations will enter into force. Also approved was the amendment of the current annual questionnaire on coverage, quality of service and site-sharing.
The DD was submitted to a prior hearing of stakeholders, MEO, NOS, and VODAFONE, pursuant to Articles 121 ff. of the Código do Procedimento Administrativo (Code of Administrative Procedure), with stakeholders given a period of 20 working days to comment on its content, in writing, as they saw fit.
Following the requests presented by NOS and VODAFONE, on 4 April 2017 ANACOM decided to extend the deadline of the mentioned hearing by five working days, which thus ended on 17 April 2017.
Comments from MEO, NOS, and VODAFONE were received before the deadline of the prior hearing expired.
This was the context in which the report of the prior hearing was prepared, which is an integral part of this decision. It includes a summary of the positions presented by the stakeholders as well as ANACOM’s understanding of them, which support this decision and, in particular, the modifications that it was deemed appropriate to introduce in light of what was in the DD.
