REUTERS
Ukraine's National Commission for Communications and Informatization Regulation (NCCIR) has adopted a draft Cabinet resolution as a basis to amend the fee for the issue of licenses permitting the use of the radio frequency (RF) resource of Ukraine and endorsed proposed amendments to the RF allotment plan to introduce 4G in the 2300 MHz band, according to the commission's press service.
"Having received confirmation that Intellectual Communications LLC is ready to stop using the 2345-2400 MHz RF band under certain conditions and that TV and Radio Company Kraevid ('Landscape') LLC is ready to release the 2300-2400 MHz band used to provide services to its subscribers, the NCCIR... has adopted the draft as a basis… and approved the proposed amendments...," it said on November 21.
The document was developed based on the results of research on the allocation of Ukraine's radio frequency resource.
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"According to the results, the minimum license cost for the use of Ukraine's radio frequency resource for 5 MHz within a 15-year period in the 2300 MHz band across Ukraine, including the current rate set at UAH 3,000 per MHz, is UAH 103 million (US$3.9 million), or UAH 762,963 per MHz in one region," the press service added.
The commission also approved proposals to amend the RF allotment plan, in particular, the possibility of using the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) technology in the 2345-2400 MHz band.
"To protect consumers' rights, it is necessary that a competition or a tender to be called to sell licenses for the use of the RF in these bands should foresee that the current RF users ensure the continuous provision of telecoms services to consumers," the commission noted, adding that respective proposals will be sent to the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine.
Ukraine's Cabinet on July 4, 2017, approved the terms of a tender to sell RFs in the 2600 MHz band with the starting price set at UAH 2.3 billion ($86.3 million) and in the 1800 MHz band with the starting price set at UAH 4 billion ($150.1 million) to introduce 4G.
The NCCIR announced on November 7 that bidders for a tender to sell 4G 2600 MHz licenses will be named on January 23, 2018, and the tender will take place late in January 2018.