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New Proposals for Spectrum Pricing
30.12.2011
ANCOM announced the intention to review the pricing policy for the use of radio spectrum.
The main amendment the draft decision submitted to public consultation provides for is that the decisions concerning the tariff owed by each operator using the frequency bands will be issued subsequently to the usage period, respectively annually or quarterly, and not at the beginning of this period, as currently. Any difficulties which may appear in the operators’ internal financial flow are thus removed, considering that the operators receive the amounts due for the provision of electronic communications services to the end-users or commercial partners at the end of the billing period. ANCOM also removes the half-yearly payments and establishes that the tariffs are to be paid only quarterly or annually.
The new provisions are to be implemented in 2012. This means that the individual decisions on the quarterly payment of the due fee, for the first quarter of the following year, will be issued in March 2012. As for the tariffs to be charged annually, the individual decisions on the payment of the spectrum fee for 2012 are to be issued in December 2012.
The fees are established in euro and are paid in lei at the exchange rate set out by the National Bank of Romania in the first working day of October of the previous year. Where, in a year, as of 1st of March, the total value of the spectrum fee owed based on one licence, respectively the value of the fees owed based on all the licences an operator holds within the same radiocommunication service does not exceed the amount of 200 euros, the fee will be charged in all cases annually. The reference value for the mentioned threshold is the fee that would be charged based on the respective licence for a whole year.
The use of radio frequencies is only allowed upon obtaining a licence, an administrative act comprising the legal, technical and operational conditions for the use of the radio spectrum resource. In Romania, the radio spectrum is managed by ANCOM, and the spectrum fees are a mechanism meant to secure the effective and efficient use of the rights awarded under the licences.
The draft decision is available for consultation on the ANCOM website, here. The interested persons are invited to send their comments and suggestions, by 09.12.2011, to the ANCOM headquarters in 2 Delea Noua Street, Bucharest 3, or directly to the ANCOM Registry Office. Comments and recommendations may also be sent by fax to +40 732Â 845 404 or by e-mail to consultare@ancom.org.ro.
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