By determination of 18 February 20161, ANACOM approved the renewal for a period of 15 years of the rights of use of frequencies (RUF) allocated in the 2100 MHz band (1920-1980 MHz/2110-2170 MHz sub-band) to NOS, MEO and VODAFONE, under the terms laid down in endorsements to titles ICP-ANACOM 01/2012, ICP-ANACOM 02/2012 and ICP-ANACOM 03/2012 in Annex 1 of the mentioned decision and deemed to be an integral part thereof.
1.1. In this decision ANACOM deemed it appropriate and proportional to determine the imposition of additional coverage obligations on NOS, MEO and VODAFONE in the 2100 MHz band, with each company being required to ensure the coverage of 196 of the parishes potentially lacking mobile broadband (MBB) coverage, listed in Annex 2, having decided, however, that “the methodology establishing how compliance with these obligations by mobile operators is checked will be approved in a separate determination of this Authority”.
In this respect, ANACOM also mentioned in the report of the consultation on the draft decision on the “renewal of the rights of use of frequency assigned in the 2100 MHz band for terrestrial electronic communications services”2, that “(…) it would be preferable to frame such definition [of the mentioned methodology] within the necessary process of review of the current annual questionnaire, which includes the original obligations regarding the 2100 MHz band, approved by ANACOM on 13 November 2014 3, in particular the questionnaire about coverage (regarding voice and data services up to 9600 bps, data services with transmission rates of 144 kbps, and data services with transmission rates of 384 kbps), quality of service, and how to implement the site-sharing policy”.
It should be noted that these additional coverage obligations will only come into effect on the date of the renewal of the RUF, which will be in mid-2018 (4 June 2018, 21 April 2018, and 5 May 2018, respectively, for NOS, MEO and VODAFONE). The obligations should be totally met within a year of those dates.
1.2. In the context of the aforementioned decision, ANACOM further held that minimum coverage levels not lower than those existing at the time of the renewal of the RUF assigned to NOS, MEO and VODAFONE in the 2100 MHz band will continue to be ensured, taking as a reference basis for that purpose the entire population covered by a municipality, as will the coverage of data services for the maximum speed secured by these operators, in that same frequency band, provided in the respective municipality. The above-mentioned speeds (rates) must correspond to the theoretical upper rate that is possible for a user in an external environment, including signalling/codification traffic.
For this purpose, the same decision also provided that NOS, MEO and VODAFONE are required:
- within 60 working days from the date of renewal of their RUF, to submit to ANACOM the response to the ad hoc questionnaire, which should be approved for this purpose in a separate determination of this Authority, and which is now the subject of the present decision;
- in each year, to present to ANACOM a declaration confirming that, on 31 December of the preceding year the levels of population coverage reported in the respective responses to the mentioned ad hoc questionnaire have been guaranteed.
Thus, as decided on 18 February 2016, the methodology for verifying the coverage obligations at stake should be established, the previously mentioned ad hoc questionnaire should be approved, and the annual questionnaire approved by ANACOM’s decision of 13 November 20143 should be amended.
1 Renewal of the rights of use of frequencies assigned in the 2100 MHz band for terrestrial electronic communications services, available at Final decision of 18.02.2016https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=385598.
2 Available at Relatório dos procedimentos de audiência prévia e de consultahttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=385074.
3 Vide Information on coverage, quality of service and site-sharing policy submitted by providers of terrestrial electronic communications serviceshttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1340079.