Romanian Regulator Mulls Allowing 3G Services in the 900MHz Band

­Romania's telecoms regulator, Ancom has announced a public consultation on plans to permit 3G services in the 900MHz radio spectrum. The formal consultation covers an earlier draft decision on the harmonisation of the use of the 880-915 MHz, 925-960 MHz, 1710-1747.5 MHz and 1805-1842.5 MHz radio frequency bands.

These bands are currently allotted, by licence, to three operators; Orange Romania, Vodafone Romania and Cosmote Romanian Mobile Telecommunications.

According to the draft decision submitted for public consultation, the operators' obligation to provide second generation electronic communications services is maintained, thus enabling the end-user to choose the service bundle which best suits his/her communication needs.

This draft decision follows the adoption by the Electronic Communications Committee (ECC) within the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) of a decision and of several reports on the compatibility between the UMTS and GSM systems operating in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands and on the compatibility between the UMTS 900/1800 MHz and the systems operating in the adjacent bands.

"The draft decision was submitted for consultation last year as well; nevertheless, we postponed its adoption as we needed to be certain that the text of the ANCOM decision is in line with the GSM Directive approved by the Council of Ministers and by the European Parliament., This draft is to be discussed and analysed together with the operators, considering especially that the right to use these bands in view of providing third generation services will be exercised only following the amendment of the provisions under the licences already granted", Catalin Marinescu, the President of Ancom declared.

Posted to the site on 3rd September 2009