Highlights and Activities for Weeks 45 & 46

1. Radio Spectrum Working Group (RSPG) Working Group: The RSPG elected Mr.  Gilles Brégant, Director General of ANFR (France), as its new Chairperson in succession to Mr.  Roberto Viola,  who  was appointed in  September  as  Deputy Director-General of the European Commission's DG CONNECT.  The progress of the 2012 work programme activities was discussed focusing mainly on the progress of the working group on wireless broadband, which made a first step towards recommendations concerning the future of the 700 MHz band with the results of a questionnaire on digital terrestrial TV in the Member States.  The recent Commission Communication on shared use of spectrum was addressed in an open discussion on all aspects of the proposals from the Commission.  RSPG launched a new working group to develop an opinion on one of these aspects, the “licensed shared access” concept.  
    
2. ICT-VN final conference: A round up of what occurred in the past three years was presented by the lead partner and a number of partners, including Malta, discussed the lessons learnt during this project along with any future plans. In addition, personnel from the Commission, namely Bernd Reichert, Reinhard Buscher and Alexandra Kiel, explained the Europe 2020 agenda with a special reference to opportunities to SMEs. 
    
3. European child safety online conference 2012: This conference was addressed by members form the European Commission, European Parliament, Disney and Microsoft. The discussion focused on existing and future measures undertaken to protect young people online.
    
4. In addition to the above meetings, the MCA also participated in the following meetings:
   1. Contact Network
   2. BEREC WG NN Meeting
   3. Telecoms Working Party
   4. Extraordinary Plenary meeting of the Board of Regulators

1. Business Perceptions on Telecoms Services: The MCA published results of a survey it carried out on business perceptions on a number of telecommunications services. The first of its kind to be carried out by the MCA, this survey complements the findings of other services conducted by the Authority in previous years amongst private households. To view results of this survey click here  
    
2. Mailbox Service Group fined: Following a complaint received by the Authority and due investigation, the MCA issued a decision whereby it imposed a €500 administrative fine against Mailbox Services Group [Mailbox] after the Authortiy determined that this company had provided postal services without being authorised to do so in terms of the Postal Services Act. Click here for more information 
    
3. Price Control Mechanism for MaltaPost plc and Revised Postal Tariffs - Responses to Consultation and Decision Notice: This document details the main factors considered by the MCA to set a proposed price control mechanism for MaltaPost plc and the Authority’s position on the tariff revisions requested by MaltaPost. Click here for more information. 
    
4. ‘On-the-job’ Learning Progamme – ICT Intern: The MCA launched the ‘On the Job Learning Programme’ which is an initiative geared towards students who wish to gain workplace experience. Working under the direct supervision of the Chief Information Officer, the ICT intern will be responsible for providing operational and technical ICT support. Moreover, as part of the programme, the intern will also participate in other Information Society based projects and eCommerce related initiatives. For more information on this opportunity click here 

1. During this period, the MCA issued a letter of warning against SIS Ltd for failure to abide by porting specifications following a complaint.