ANACOM - Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações renewed VODAFONE's rights of frequency use for the provision of land mobile services using the GSM 900/1800 system for another 15 year period, and set the conditions attached to the rights of frequency use by the operator.
According to the regulator's determination, the renewal of VODAFONE's licence - and that of TMN's, ending in March next year - was completed with a set of conditions. Operators must thus continue to assure at least the provision of voice and data transmission (SMS) services, services over GPRS (such as WAP access and the MMS service), and call routing and voice mail, besides the provision of other mobile services based on GSM 900/1800 networks.
The licence renewal includes a clause establishing that ANACOM might review Vodafone's right of frequency use, in order to guarantee its efficient and effective use should a service and client transition from the GSM 900/1800 networks to the UMTS network occur.
Under the terms set by the National Frequency Allocation Board, should operators intend to transfer the rights of frequency use, they must report it to the regulator, together with the terms according to which they intend to do so.
According to ANACOM's decision, operators must assure at least their network's coverage at the time of the license renewal, both in terms of population and of geographical distribution. The coverage of certain specific locations and areas might also be imposed on GSM operators, whenever that is needed to fulfil the communications needs of the population and for economic and social development purposes.
The licence is exclusively granted for the provision of mobile telephone services in accordance with the GSM 900/1800 systems.
The pursuance of the activity in accordance with the licence renewal is still subject to the parameters and quality levels already established for the service activation time, service blocking rate and mobile network's performance. Currently, the regulator is not defining the quality of service parameters for the data services based on the GSM 900/1800 network.
The current radio spectrum tariff rates remain in force for now, although the regulator might consider the adoption of another tariff model based on the quantity of allocated spectrum, to be established according to the law.
The regulator now gives Vodafone a 20 working day period to comment the draft licence renovation title, which will be in force until 19 October 2021.
In the same meeting when Vodafone's application was accepted, ANACOM's board of directors also approved the final report on the public consultation concerning the renewal of the licences to operate GSM 900/1800 networks.
Consult:
- Renewal of the rights of use of the GSM 900/1800 frequencies - TMN and Vodafone https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1092841
