Ministérios das Finanças e da Administração Pública, da Economia e da da Inovação e das Obras Públicas, Transportes e Comunicações
(Ministries for Finance and Public Administration, for Economy and Innovation and for Public Works, Transport and Communications)
Ministerial Order
Through Ministerial Order no. 1704/2003, of 13 January, issued by the Minister for Economy, and published in the Official Gazette, II Series, of 23 January 2003, TMN - Telecomunicações Móveis Nacionais, S.A. (TMN), VODAFONE TELECEL - Comunicações Pessoais, S.A. (VODAFONE), and Optimus - Telecomunicações, S.A. (Optimus) were allocated additional frequencies for the operation of International Mobile Telecommunications Systems (IMT2000/UMTS), in view of the fact that the spectrum associated to the license granted to ONIWAY - Infocomunicações, S.A. (ONIWAY), which in the meantime had been repealed, had been made available.
The allocation of the additional spectrum to the referred operators carried with it, pursuant to the mentioned ministerial order, the obligation thereon to ensure the performance of projects already engaged by ONIWAY, as well as to contribute proportionally towards the necessary projects to the development of the information society, defined as such by the Government.
The protocol concluded on 5 June 2007, between the Ministry for Public Works, Transport and Communications and TMN, VODAFONE and OPTIMUS, established an open fund, known as the “Fundo para a Sociedade da Informação” – FIS - (Fund for the Information Society) with an initial capital of Euro 24 939 894,85, an amount which results from the financial contribution, in equal shares, of each of the referred mobile operators, and which aims to support financially the implementation of projects targeted at the development and promotion of the information society, namely the access to means and to terminal equipment (computers or other means).
Thus, taking into consideration the opinion of 27 May 2007, of the head of the UMTS working group, being the head of the body which, according to Resolution of the Council of Ministers no. 143/2006, of 12 October, is responsible for monitoring the compliance with obligations entered into by mobile operators, in the scope of the tendering procedure held in 2000, it is hereby determined that:
As soon as the last payment is made, as far as the contribution of each mobile operator is concerned, according to the mentioned protocol signed on 5 June 2007, the obligations to contribute proportionally towards the necessary projects to the development of the information society, defined as such by the Government, that fall on TMN, VODAFONE and OPTIMUS, shall be deemed to be complied with, and thus extinguished, pursuant to the second part of paragraph 2 of Ministerial Order no. 1704/2003, of the Minister for Economy, published in the Official Gazette, II Series, of 23 January 2003, and to subsequent clarifications.
18 July 2007. – The Minister of State and for Finance, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos. – The Minister for Economy and Innovation, Manuel António Gomes de Almeida de Pinho. – The Minister for Public Works, Transport and Communications, Mário Lino Soares Correia.
