Serpil Timuray, Vodafone Group European cluster CEO, accused Portugal’s communications regulator of trying to impose illegal conditions to its delayed 5G spectrum auction. She said that the operator is assessing its participation in the auction.
Timuray bemoaned proposals to reserve an allocation for new entrants alongside offering challengers a 25 percent discount on the hammer price. She also pointed to a lack of incentive for new players to invest in nationwide infrastructure caused by requirements on existing players to offer national roaming facilities.
The operator believes the draft make-up of the sale, covering spectrum in the 900MHz to 1800MHz band, contravenes both European Union and Portuguese laws. It claims that it is planning to reconsider options with the potential of not bidding at all if the conditions are deemed so unfavourable.
Regulator Anacom completed a public consultation on its proposed auction rules in July, having suspended the process for three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the consultation and final rules for the sale are yet to be published. On announcing the end of its consultation, it also shifted the schedule for the allocation of licences. By its most recent timeline, the auction is due to kick-off this month with licences issued in early 2021.
Nokia and SURF, the organization for IT in Dutch education and research, have successfully reached a single carrier 800Gb/s optical transmission over SURF’s existing cross-border, multi-vendor research and education network infrastructure.
Nokia and Vodafone are collaborating to test the viability of L4S technology over passive optical networks (PON).
The GSMA believes that critical reform of European laws is necessary to position the region as a technology frontrunner by 2030.
