“Kyivstar”, Vodafone and Lifecell reached an agreement on frequency refarming (exchange) in the band of 1800 MHz. This will provide for speeding up the process to introduce the fourth-generation communications (4G) in Ukraine.
At yesterday’s meeting, initiated by the American Chamber of Commerce, the three largest telecom Ukrainian operators signed the Protocol to confirm their intentions of frequency refarming in the band of 1800 MHz. As a result, the National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications and Informatization (NCCIR) can actually hold a tender for frequencies in the bands of 2600 MHz and 1800 MHz. Their total price will amount to more than UAH 6 billion.
The Chairman of the NCCIR Alexander Zhyvotovsky specified that first they would hold a tender for frequencies in the band of 2600 MHz, and some of them would be gotten back from the operator MMDS Ukraine.
The NCCIR will put out to this tender 4-5 frequency lots at the starting price of UAH 2.3 billion. At the same time, the winner will have to pay 25% of the initial frequency price to the donor operator.
At the second stage, the regulatory authority will invite a tender for frequencies in the band of 1800 MHz. In this case and under the agreement, the “Big Three” will give back their frequencies, and the Commission will put them out to a tender once again. These frequencies will cost operators about UAH 4 billion. In this case, there will be also effective the principle of returning 25% of the price to the donor operators.
So, due to the frequency refarming, the Ukrainian telecom-market will gain the following advantages:
- The band of 1800 is most common and popular for the development of LTE technology. There are more than 580 commercial 4G networks in the world, and half of them operate at frequencies of 1800 MHz.
- In Ukraine, there are already operating networks that use multi-standard equipment (Single RAN). Once the law on technological neutrality is adopted, the companies will be able to launch promptly 4G services in the band of 1800 MHz.
- Having the opportunity to develop 4G services, the operators will be able to use other radio frequencies (for example, 2600 MHz) for further capacity’s extension.
