In July, ANCOM began a poll of telecom service providers and consumers on the terms for the extension of the radio frequencies used by Vodafone Romania and Orange Romania in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands. The questions concerned the extension period, reallocation of frequencies in the GSM 900 band, the technology to be used and network development requirements.
A study on the impact of the use of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands for 3G services indicated that RCS&RDS had a competitive disadvantage compared to the operators using the 900 MHz band, said an ANCOM press release on July 14.
The public consultation ends Friday, August 5.
Consulting company Ovum Europe Limited has put forward four solutions: (1) maintaining the status quo; (2) clearing a 2×5 MHz block in the 900 MHz band and allocating it through a competitive auction; (3) introducing regulated national roaming, temporarily, plus solution (2), plus allocating the 800 MHz spectrum through a competitive auction, while restricting the maximum amount of spectrum below 1 GHz that may be owned by a single operator; (4) introducing regulated national roaming, followed by voluntary agreements on the network’s partition.
According to ANCOM, the decision should ensure the continuity of GSM services, optimal conditions allowing consumers to immediately benefit from frequency liberalization for broadband communications services, as well as flexibility and efficiency in the use of the spectrum.