Romania hosts pioneering CEE Digital Divide think-tank

Monday, 31 May 2010 23:00  |  Nicolae Oac?

Bucharest recently hosted the first regional think-tank on the Digital Dividend in Central and Eastern Europe, writes Developing Telecoms’ Romanian correspondent, Nicolae Oac?. Under the organisation of ANCOM, the Romanian telecommunications regulatory body, Digital Dividend – Challenges and Opportunities in the Region, the think-tank identified the main challenges of the digital switchover, notably the allocation and usage of the freed band as well as facilitating regional coordination

The first of three sessions, Digital Dividend - Harmonising the Use of a Common Scarce Resource, assembled administrations and national authorities from ten countries in the region (Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, FYR of Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and Romania). Moderated by Catalin Marinescu, the President of ANCOM, it started with an ITU keynote presentation, followed by senior representatives of the ten authorities talking about their digital switchover schedule and plans for the freed band (790-862 MHz).

Some of the participating countries are EU members or candidates, and therefore their switchover plans are in line with the EC recommendations. The plans presented by the states in the region and the subsequent discussions represent a starting point for future cross-border coordination and a regional calendar. The participants also analysed the hot topics in the region: spectrum harmonisation, frequency problems at borders, how to regulate, the importance of bilateral or multilateral meetings for a regional approach, etc. They then highlighted that the digital switchover is a complex process, with significant economic and social implications, and that the approach to efficient use of the digital dividend band could be one of the major challenges in communications.

“The coordination and harmonisation of the radio spectrum and of the digital dividend usage are vital, mostly at regional level, in the context where not all the states in the region are members of the European Union and the stages of the switchover are different from country to country. I am happy that we have succeeded on this occasion in agreeing on the idea of a regional calendar for the switchover to terrestrial digital television so as to facilitate the regional coordination”, Catalin Marinescu, stated.

The second session, moderated by Ruprecht Niepold, Adviser to the EC DGINFSO, asked, “Is the Eastern and South-Eastern European market ready for the services provided based on the digital dividend?” It focused on designing a business case in the region, based on the new band and existing technologies. A keynote presentation by Dr Ulrich Stumph, Director of the WIK Institute, and senior representatives of major European players - Vodafone, France Telecom, Cosmote, Magyar Telekom and RCS&RDS - contributed to the panel.

In one example from Magyar Telekom, a 2x10 MHz channel is a minimum requirement to provide broadband services, which in turn means only three licences could be issued, while excessive frequency usage fees could affect business viability. In addition, it is better to use the digital dividend band together with the 2.6GHz band in order to minimise CAPEX costs. According to Vodafone, a prerequisite for a lucrative business is a fair licence price. Concluding, it seems that from a business-side perspective operators in the region are eager to benefit from the Digital Dividend band, as soon as the frequency band is freed.

The third session, Technological Strategies at the Height of Digital Dividend Challenges, moderated by Aljo van Dijken, Chairman CEPT/ECC/TG 4, dealt with technological issues. It started with a presentation given by the moderator, while senior representatives of major manufacturers - Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel and Nokia-Siemens Networks – formed the discussion panel.

When the digital dividend band is made available, the next question will arise: what is the most adequate technology, both from the technical and from the economic point of view? Cellcos in Europe are already using LTE in field trials and Germany is the first country starting to auction the digital dividend spectrum in one of the greatest contests since the 3G contests of the early 2000s; $7.4-$9.9 billion could be raised according to analysts.

Most competition is within the digital dividend band; $3.2 billion out of the total €4 billion in round 186 came from the 800 MHz band. All the manufacturers are optimistic: technology is at the field testing stage, while devices could be delivered next year.

Both the operators attending the second session and the manufacturer representatives participating in the third session declared their readiness to provide services via the digital dividend band. They considered, too, that the harmonisation of the spectrum usage, especially of the digital dividend, represents a key-driver of economic growth in the region.

Conclusions

In the presence of representatives of the European Commission, the ITU, the European radio spectrum management bodies and top executives of international telecom groups operating in the region, the ten countries taking part in the think tank agreed that a harmonised approach to digital dividend usage at regional level is entirely beneficial, and that bilateral and multilateral coordination would properly serve this purpose. All the participating countries agreed to hold the next edition of the summit in 2011, again in Bucharest.

The think tank was a success story, proving that harmonisation of digital dividend band usage is a hot topic in Europe these days. Europe is placing its bets on the Digital Dividend band!

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