WCA January 2012

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30 Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2012
Telecom news
The Commissioner for
Digital Agenda warns that
Europe must lose no time
in moving ahead on radio
spectrum policy
“Next-generation fixed solutions are
not the whole story. We also need
wireless infrastructure for the 90 per
cent of European households with
access to a mobile; for the one-third
of Europeans who can use their
mobiles to access the Internet; and
as a competitive complement to fibre
broadband access, particularly for
those who live in more isolated areas.”
The speaker was Neelie Kroes, the
European Commission vice president
responsible for Digital Agenda
e-Communications, who in October
was in Warsaw for a conference on
the development of the electronics
communications market in the
European Union. Ms Kroes left no
doubt in the minds of her listeners of her
conviction that Europe cannot afford to
postpone action on a Radio Spectrum
Policy Programme common to the bloc.
Two consultations had been initiated
by Ms Kroes – on nondiscrimination
and on access prices. But, as noted
by Julian Clover of broadbandtvnews.
com (20th October), concern has been
expressed in the industry over the use
of public funds “aimed at gapfill and
boosting investment.”
Manuel Kohnstamm, the president
of Cable Europe, assured Mr Clover
of the eurozone trade association’s
support for subsidised greenfield
development – “provided that cable
gets its fair share.” But, he said, if
public funds were to be invested in
areas where nascent players (new
entrants) are already setting up
shop, or have new investment in the
planning stage, that use of taxpayer
money “could be hugely distorting.”
The EC is proposing to set aside
$12.7 billion for what has been
described as the “connecting Europe
facility.” In Warsaw, Ms Kroes called
for action within days. Whether or
not that was in the cards, the issue
is now very much to the fore. As
construed by the EC Information
Society (“Radio Spectrum: a Vital
Resource in a Wireless World”), the
spectrum underpins one of Europe’s
most dynamic sectors. As well as
telecommunications, wireless tech-
nologies serve areas as diverse as
transport, security, and environmental
protection. “But the spectrum is a
finite resource,” warns the EC. “Its
allocation requires effective and
efficient coordination at the European
and global level.”
✆ For still more on spectrum-related
matters, Moody’s Investors Service
sees an absence of competition
for licenses for next-generation
spectrum as benefiting European
telecoms by keeping auction
prices at affordable levels for
most of them. As reported by
Michael Carroll of Telecom Asia
(5th October), the credit rating
agency believes that the majority
of companies will pay an average
$1.99 billion each for 4G licenses in
the region’s major markets. Carlos
Winzer, a senior vice president of
the Moody’s corporate finance
division, predicted that incumbent
carriers’ debt-funding levels will
fall well below five per cent of their
existing gross debt and that the
financing method “on its own,
should not affect the companies’
current ratings.”
Mr Carroll noted that Moody’s
retains its confidence despite
recent auctions in Europe that
yielded more than expected. In
France, a first-round sale of 2.6gHz
spectrum netted the country
$1.24 billion – roughly 33% above
the reserve price – while a sale in
Italy raised $5.25 billion – some
$1.13 billion higher than expected.
However, because Moody’s treats
the investments as one-off items
rather than as capital expenses,
ratings are unlikely to be affected
in most cases.
Elsewhere in telecom . . .
✆ The widespread outage of
BlackBerry services in October
affected customers in Europe,
the Middle East and Africa, but
its impact on Latin America was
much less severe. Adriano Lino,
the Latin America marketing intelli-
gence manager for the Canadian
smartphone maker Research in
Motion (RIM), told Business News
London-based Business Monitor International (BMI) is an independent
provider of data and analysis covering 175 countries and 22 industry sectors.
The most recent of its quarterly telecommunications updates, published
18th October, analysed the French market for fixed-line, mobile telephony
and broadband services. According to “Research and Markets: France
Telecommunications Report Q4 2011,” data from the principal operators
and the national regulator show that, despite saturation, the French mobile
market continues to show robust growth, and the fixed and broadband
market is expanding steadily. Meanwhile, the rate of decline in traditional
voice telephony services accelerated slightly. BMI expected the French
market to be serving 66.67 million subscribers by the end of 2011, rising to
72.80 million in 2015.
Again BMI identified the mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) as
the engine for top-line growth in mobile in France. While the country’s
network operators focus on upgrading existing 2G and 3G subscribers
to mobile broadband – and into multiplay converged services packages
– the MVNOs enjoy continued success by addressing the niche and
low-cost markets increasingly ignored by their network rivals. Growth
in broadband voice and cable telephony services in France has served
to slow the rate of decline for voice connection as a whole. But a slump
in traditional line usage caused BMI to adjust downwards an earlier
five-year growth forecast. BMI now expects that, by 2015, there will be
16.72 million traditional voice lines in service in France, a penetration rate of
26.2 per cent.
✆ The auction by France of 800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum that can be used
to offer 4G services using LTE-based networks is under way. Fourteen
parcels of 800MHz spectrum were to be offered; and these, according to
BMI, “will be hotly contested.” The French government reportedly hopes
to raise as much as $3.4 billion from the spectrum sale.
In France, mobile virtual network operators
flourish by concentrating on the neglected niche
and low-end markets