No date set for the approval of the new strategy for the transition to digital terrestrial, says Catalin Marinescu, President of the Communications Regulatory Authority.
Cosmote Romania, Orange Romania, RCS&RDS and Vodafone Romania combined have paid EUR 204.14 M, representing the first instalment on the 800, 900, 1,800 and 2,600 MHz telecom licences purchased at the end of September after an ANCOM tendering procedure. ‘According to the tender documentation, operators were supposed to pay by November 30 and, as far as we are aware, they have fulfilled their obligation’, said the President of the National Authority for the Management and Regulation of Communications (ANCOM), Catalin Marinescu, at a specialised event, according to Mediafax. After an ANCOM tendering procedure ending on September 24, Cosmote, Orange, RCS&RDS, Vodafone and 2K Telecom will pay EUR 682.14 M for the 800, 900, 1,800 and 2,600 MHz telecom licences. Vodafone Romania will pay EUR 228.52 M, Orange Romania – EUR 227.14 M, Cosmote Romania EUR 179.88 M, RCS&RDS – EUR 40 M and 2K Telecom – EUR 6.6 M. Part of the spectre purchased is for the provision of 4G telecom services. According to ANCOM data, by June 30, 2013, Cosmote Romania, Orange Romania, RCS&RDS, Vodafone Romania and 2K Telecom will pay a total of EUR 478 M to the state budget.
TV subscribers number up by 2.9 pc in first 6 months
On a distinct note, Marinescu also noted that the number of subscribers to audio-visual re-broadcasting services had reached a total of 5.92 M at the end of June, up by 2.9 per cent since the end of 2011 and by 5.2 per cent compared to June 30, 2011, midst the increase of the number of cable as well as DTH and IP network customers. He also added that the household penetration rate of TV re-broadcasting services had grown to 83.5 per cent and of cable networks to 51.8 per cent.According to the residence environment, on June 30 60 per cent of the total of subscribers were based in urban areas, most of them (79 per cent) being connected to cable networks. On the other hand, in rural areas re-broadcasting service subscribers use the DTH technology to a greater extent for the reception of audio-visual programmes – 64 per cent. Romania has made an international commitment to completely terminate the provision of analogical TV programmes via terrestrial radio – the programmes that can now be received by households by using a simple aerial – by June 17, 2015. However, the authorities do not know when the Government approves the strategy for the process. ‘ANCOM is ready to implement the new strategy as soon as it is adopted and, in the shortest time possible, we will organise the selection procedure for the award of digital multiplexes’, the ANCOM head further said. Doina Micu, the head of the TV department at SNR (Radiocom) said during the same event that SNR – sate company that provides TV re-broadcasting for the Romanian Television Society (SRTv) – was planning to get at least one terrestrial digital television (DVB-T) when they are on sale and that the nation-wide piloting of the DVB-T project required an investment of about EUR 20-22 M.
