Highlights and Activities for weeks 3 to 6
International News
Telecoms
a) Total Telecom. Heavy 4G users are proving more extreme than the 3G 'data-hogs' who went before, according to new research published on Thursday. Read more…
b) Cullen International. The Danish Business Authority (ERST) decided to lift sub-loop unbundling (SLU) obligations imposed on TDC in areas where it deploys VDSL2 vectoring. Read more... (Subscription is required)
c) Analysys Mason. As mobile network operators (MNOs) expand their service offerings with next-generation (4G and enhanced 4G) services, facilitated by the additional network capacity and capability as new spectrum bands come on-stream, the wholesale interface needs a coherent role in the overall strategy of the network players. [Read more]
d) 4G 360. Once again, Vodafone and Liberty Global are competing to add to their European cable footprint. Liberty lost to its mobile rival when Vodafone acquired Germany’s largest cableco, KDG, last year, and now... [Read more]
e) access. Today, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) Committee of the European Parliament voted on the Telecom Single Market proposal, which includes provisions putting net neutrality at stake in Europe. [Read more]
f) European Commission. The Commission is currently working on the second review of the Recommendation on Relevant Markets, which sets out a list of predefined markets subject to ex-ante regulation. [Read more]
g) Analysys Mason. Revenue continued to decline sharply in the mobile market in Western Europe (WE) during the first half of 2013. We have recently updated our core forecasts... [Read more]
Spectrum
a) PolicyTracker. The EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives, which prepares the work of the European Council, has approved amendments to proposed EU legislation that would shift responsibility for preventing interference from radio transmitters to broadcasting receivers. Read more… (Subscription is required)
b) PolicyTracker. Bidders may only have to pay a small penalty if they withdraw from Poland's auction of spectrum in the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands. Read more... (Subscription is required)
c) PolicyTracker. Mark Thomas, the director of the European Communications Office (ECO), questioned Microsoft's motivation for its massive investment in a network of spectrum observatories and the promotion of dynamic spectrum access (DSA). Read more... (Subscription is required)
d) PolicyTracker. The new year has begun with two large secondary trades between US mobile operators. Will trading increase on the other side of the Atlantic this year? Read more...
e) Telegeography. While commercial 3G wireless broadband service was launched in 2001 and LTE entered service in 2009, data from TeleGeography’s new GlobalComms Forecast Service reveal that 2G remains the dominant wireless technology globally—for now. [Read more]
f) PolicyTracker. A seemingly unresolvable split between the US broadcasting and mobile sectors over possible primary allocation of the 470-698 MHz band for mobile broadband has left the Federal Communications Commission WRC-15 Advisory Committee (WAC) without a consensus recommendation for the US bargaining position. [Read more subscription required]
g) Analysys Mason. LTE is the latest telecoms industry buzzword – mobile network operators (MNOs) have launched more than 200 live LTE networks in 100 countries. The experience of MNOs in countries such as... [Read more]
h) Advanced Television. Italy will call a tender for the auction of DTT frequencies next week. The news was announced by Antonio Catrica… [Read more]
Internet
a) Access. The Culture and Education (CULT) and Legal Affairs (JURI) Committees of the European Parliament voted today on the European Telecom Single Market proposal, tabled in September 2013 by the Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes. The proposed Regulation, which principally aims at... Read more…
b) Memburn. A global commission has been launched with the aim of coming up with a comprehensive stance on internet governance. Announced today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the commission is a .... Read more…
c) Total Telecom. BT and Alcatel-Lucent on Wednesday announced they have achieved broadband speeds of 1.4 terabits per second over existing fibre in a field trial in the south of England. Read more…
d) European Parliament. The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee of the European Parliament published a draft opinion on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning measures to ensure a high common level of network and information security across the Union. Read more…
e) IRIS. In his opinion of 26 November 2013, the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in Case C-314/12, considered that a court injunction requiring an Internet access provider to block certain websites that infringed copyright did not breach EU law. Read more…
f) The Economist. Home automation is clearly an important building block in this next stage of the evolution of the internet, which according to Intel could lead to some 31 billion web-connected devices by 2020. Read more...
g) Advanced Television. Within the next three years, 50 per cent of the Italian population will have broadband access resulting from the deployment of the Next Generation Network (NGN). [Read more]
h) Advanced Television. New rules on music copyright have been approved by the European Parliament with the aim of making it easier for online providers to obtain licences to stream music in more than one EU country. [Read more]
i) Analysys Mason. The cable network infrastructure is a shared medium that is well-suited to supporting random, 'bursty' bandwidth demand from end users because of its use of statistical multiplexing. As a result… [Read more]
j) The Economist. Home automation is clearly an important building block in this next stage of the evolution of the internet, which according to Intel could lead to some 31 billion web-connected devices by 2020. [Read more]
Broadcasting
a) European Commission. Pascal Lamy and top executives from Europe's broadcasters, network operators, mobile companies and tech associations have been given six months to make proposals to the European Commission on how to use the UHF spectrum band (470-790 MHz) most effectively in coming decades. Read more…
b) Broadband TV News. HbbTV is no longer a European phenomenon, with interest growing strongly in other parts of the world, according to Dr Klaus Illgner-Fehns, MD, IRT and chairman of the HbbTV consortium. Read more…
c) European Commission. The European Commission has formally established a group of EU Regulatory Authorities in the field of Audiovisual Media Services. The Group brings together heads or high level representatives of national independent regulatory bodies in the field of audiovisual services, to advise the Commission in implementing the EU's Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) in a converged media age. [Read more]
d) Broadband TV News. Swisscom said that the number of its IPTV homes has grown with 209,000 subs to reach one million in 2013, up 26.4%. [Read more]
e) Analysys Mason. Market players continue to differentiate their offers by providing premium content, often on an exclusive basis. Despite the financial crisis… Read more…
Information Technology
a) European Commission. Tech leaders, global corporations, universities and financial institutions have joined the European Commission in two initiatives to nurture Europe's tech and digital startups into global internet companies. Vice President Neelie Kroes launched a new accelerator – the Startup Europe Partnership – and a new think tank - the European Digital Forum - at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Read more…
b) Analysys Mason. The attraction of cloud services is likely to increase amid continuing cuts to budgets in both the public and private sectors. Outsourcing to cloud-based providers (or 'cloud sourcing') allows companies to reduce the overheads associated with hosting services in house. But finding a… Read more…
c) European Commission. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Vice President Neelie Kroes brought CEOs from across the global economy together at the World Economic Forum in Davos today to expand a successful year-old coalition that is delivering digital training opportunities and jobs. The Davos Declaration, which was discussed today, foresees the creation of 100,000 additional traineeships by the end of 2015. [Read more]
Post
a) Postal Technology International. Swiss Post has reached an agreement with the national price regulator of Switzerland to forgo various planned price increases and lower the price of individual products. Read more...
b) Postal Technology International. The Australian postal union has criticised Australia Post for the prospect of charging residents for daily mail services. Read more…
c) Post & Parcel. Fifteen years of European countries opening up their postal markets to full competition has had an “overwhelmingly negative” result, according to a new report produced for trade union groups. Read more…
Postal Technology International. Royal Mail is increasing its price charges for Access customers to ensure the continued delivery of mail to widespread areas of the UK. Read more…
d) Cullen International. On February 4, 2014 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on an integrated parcel delivery market for the growth of e-commerce in the EU. [Read more subscription required]
e) Post & Parcel. The universal service provider commissioned new research from Ipsos Mori that polled people in seven of the UK’s major cities. The study found that 81% of households believe that no matter who delivers the mail, they should deliver… [Read more]
f) Post & Parcel. A price war has been ignited between some of the UK’s biggest parcel companies as they look to gain ground on a sector which was split wide open in the wake of Royal Mail Privatisation. Read more…
g) Postal Technology International. Royal Mail’s parcel revenue has increased 8% over the nine months to December 2013 following the new size-based pricing approach for parcels... Read more…
Consumer
a) Advanced Television. Ofcom has outlined its programme of work to ensure that consumers receive value for money and a good quality of service from their communications providers. Read more...
International Meetings
Head's Meeting on the Single Telecoms Market: Our Chief of External Relations attended a Head's Meeting on the Single Telecoms Market in Brussels on the 17th January 2014.
Net Neutrality Whole Group Meeting (NN EWG) : The BEREC Office held the NN full EWG meeting in Brussels on the 21st January 2014. Our Technical Specialist represented the MCA at the meeting.
BEREC Market & Economic Analysis Meeting: This meeting was mainly intended to elaborate on the proposed revision of the ‘Recommendation on relevant markets’. The discussion focused on the position of different NRAs on the matter, primarily issues concerning fixed broadband access. Our Market Analyst represented the MCA at this meeting in Brussels on the 23rd January 2014.
Telecoms Council Working Party: Our External Relations Analyst represeneted the MCA at this meeting held in Brussels on the 24th January 2014.
BEREC Working Group Meeting: This working group is the forum used for experts meetings, exchanging views and technical discussions to strengthen BEREC’s views and positions on practical implementation issues and monitoring of fixed and mobile termination rates regulation. Our Financial Analyst attended this meeting on behalf of MCA in Brussels on the 27th January 2014.
RSPG Working Group: The main objective of this ad-hoc meeting was to refine the tasks of the working group and develop first considerations on the future of the UHF band. Our Chief of Spectrum Management and Technology represented the MCA at this meeting held in Brussels on the 29th Janauary 2014.
The 14th COCOM Working Group Meeting: Our Policy and Strategy Manager attended the Communications Committee Working Group on the implementation of the framework for pan-european systems providing Mobile Satellite Services (MSS). This meeting was held in Brussels on the 31st January 2014.
BEREC Contact Network Meeting: Our External Relations Manager represented the MCA at this meeting held in Latvia on the 5th February 2014.
Publications
1. QUALITY OF SERVICE REQUIREMENTS AND TARGETS FOR THE UNIVERSAL POSTAL SERVICE: This decision document revises the Quality of Service (QoS) performance targets to be achieved by MaltaPost Plc for the universal postal service covering the three year period October 2013 - September 2016.
To view this document click here: http://www.mca.org.mt/decisions/quality-service-requirements-and-targets-universal-postal-service
2. TENDER FOR ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY ADVERTISING, PUBLIC RELATIONS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES: Interested bidders are invited to contact the Procurement Officer via e-mail on tenders@mca.org.mt or call on 2133 6840 for further information or clarifications by not later than the 24th February, 2014.
To view further details click here: http://www.mca.org.mt/content/tender-environmentally-friendly-advertising-public-relations-and-other-communications
3. DECISION ON ITEMISED BILLING: The MCA has published a decision on the provision of itemised bills in the fixed and mobile telephony sectors. The full decision will come into force on the 1st of April 2014.
To view full decision click here: http://www.mca.org.mt/decisions/decision-itemised-billing
4. CONSUMER PERCEPTION SURVEYS – 2013: These surveys were undertaken between August and October 2013 to gauge consumer perceptions and satisfaction levels with regard to fixed and mobile telephony, Internet and broadcasting services. To view the results please click here: http://www.mca.org.mt/notices-and-announcements/consumer-perception-surveys-2013
Legal Update
1. On the 13th January 2014, Bill No. 33 was published in the Government Gazette. The Bill amends the Postal Services Act, the Malta Communications Authority Act and the Electronic Communications (Regulation) Act.
2. Lawsuit Versus Vodafone Malta Ltd. : On the 8th January 2014, Vodafone Malta Ltd. withdrew a lawsuit against MCA and the Government before the Civil Court [constitutional jurisdiction] contesting mobile termination rates established in 2000.
3. Lawsuit Versus DHL International Ltd.: DHL International Ltd filed an appeal against the MCA contesting the decision of the Administrative Review Tribunal given on the 8th January 2014. This decision confirmed MCA’s ruling of DHL with regards to the incoming parcel post service from Germany requiring an individual licence.
Lawsuit vs. Lija Local Council: The Lija Local Council, together with various residents, are asking for the removal of a repeater antenna. The case now stands adjourned so that Melita and MCA can make their written submissions in response to those made by the Local Council and the residents.
MCCA Versus Melita Plc: A sitting was held in the case between MCCAA and Melita relating to the use of the term ‘unlimited’ in Melita’s marketing . The case was adjourned so that the parties to the lawsuit declare if they have arrived at an amicable settlement. MCA intervened in this case given that it had originally asked for MCCAA’s intervention.