Highlights and Activities for Weeks 31 & 32
International News
1. Telecommunications
a) Telecoms.com. Mobile advertising delivered 41 per cent of Facebook’s total $1.6bn ad revenue for the second quarter of 2013, prompting CEO Mark Zuckerberg to say that the work done to make Facebook a mobile company is paying off. Read more…
b) Advanced Television. Tablet sales reached 51.9 million units worldwide in Q2 2013, representing 65 per cent growth over Q2 2012, and a 17 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase. Read more…
c) Telecoms.com. Vodafone has announced a restructuring of its international portfolio, with the creation of a single European region, which the operator said will “ensure a more efficient and effective delivery” of its Vodafone 2015 priorities. Read more…
d) Telecoms.com. A telecoms consultancy has identified what it says are discrepancies in the European Commission’s plans to create a single European telecoms market, lending credence to fears voiced by EU mobile operators. Read more…
2. Spectrum Management
a) Europa. Member States have provided further evidence of why radio spectrum needs to be assigned with greater co-ordination across the European Union. Read more…
b) Policy Tracker. Leaked draft legislation that was planned to be published in September reveals the Commission's ambitions for a substantial competence grab. (subscription is required)
c) Policy Tracker. Kroes accused EU member states of making Europeans who live outside cities “second-class citizens” by failing to adopt a coherent spectrum policy. (subscription is required)
d) Policy Tracker. The PolicyTracker survey shows overwhelming support for moving TV out of the 700 MHz band, but also recognition that viewers will need a reason to buy new equipment. (subscription is required)
3. TV & Radio Broadcasting
a) Telecoms.com. Google has launched a low-price wireless dongle designed to enable users to stream web content to their TV set. Read more…
b) Advanced Television. According to the Quarterly Multi-Screen Usage Study from NPD DisplaySearch, 85 per cent of tablet owners and 65 per cent of smartphone owners in 15 countries surveyed view online content on their mobile devices instead of on their TVs at least some of the time. Read more…
4. NGA / Broadband
a) Europa. A new European Commission study has found that people are flocking to use Wi-Fi internet and the trend is set to continue. Read more…
5. Postal Services
a) The Malta Independent. Parliamentary Secretary Edward Zammit Lewis visited MaltaPost plc in Qormi where he met with its management and workers who explained the various business processes and operations of the company, which is regulated by the Malta Communications Authority. Read more…
International Meetings
No meetings were attended during the period under review.
Publications
1. Expression of Interest for the lease of space on a proposed telecommunications tower in Dwejra: The Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) is encouraging the sharing of tower sites in all localities around Malta and Gozo, with a view to keeping tower structures on the Island to a minimum while providing an adequate infrastructure to cater for the national electronic communication needs. MEPA recebtkt granted a new development permit for the construction of a private communication tower structure at Id-Dwejra, limits of Rabat in Malta ( N 35*54'23'' E 14*23'34''). This permit is subject to a requirement to accommodate third parties requiring access to such a facility. Undertakings interested in leasing space on this tower are therefore encouraged to express their interest with the MCA by the 13th September 2013 on e-mail address spectrum@mca.org.mt. Lease of space on the tower will be subject to terms and conditions, which will be established following the EOI process. Undertakings expressing their interest will be contacted for more details, in due course.
2. Fixed Radio Links: The Authority notifies that is has received an application from Ozone Limited and Vodafone Malta Limited for the right of use of a radio frequency channel being made available for assignment by the MCA in connection with fixed radio links. For more information on these requests please visit the MCA website on the
following links:
Request by Ozone Limited: http://www.mca.org.mt/notices-and-announcements/notice-mca-re-fixed-radio-links-5
Request by Vodafone Malta Limited: http://www.mca.org.mt/notices-and-announcements/notice-mca-re-fixed-radio-links-4
Any submissions on these requests for the assignment of the said frequencies are to reach the Authority by no later than Tuesday, 20th August 2013 at 16.00hrs.
Events
1. Masterclass on the use of social media: The MCA hosted two back-to-back seminars on Monday, 5th August on the use of social media in communications strategies. The seminar was delivered by two leading experts in the area of social media, Antoine Mallia and John Shewell. Antoine Mallia is currently the Information and Communication Officer at the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission and is responsible for driving the overall social media strategy of the Directorate. Antoine brought with him a wealth of experience in the private sector, sharing is experiences, challenges and lessons learnt in the integration of social media applications in information campaigns and the role social media had in the success of such initiatives. Antoine focused his discussion on the use of Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. John Shewell is the Founding Director of Colab, a UK-based consulting agency which specialises in the application of social media as part of a wider integrated-marketing effort to encourage behaviour change and reputation management. John highlighted the importance of the involvement of all staff across the organisation in social media strategies and shared his experience in overcoming financial cut-backs and bringing organisations closer to the public. John also touched upon the importance of monitoring social media channels and highlighted a number of tools and strategies in this regard.