Highlights and Activities for Weeks 7 & 8

International Activities

1. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC) in Geneve came to an end on 17th February after several all-night sessions in its final week where delegates worked hard to reach consensus on an updated worldwide framework for use of the radio spectrum. The Chairman of this activity, Eric Fournier, reflected that the hard work had paid off.  He said: “I would like to thank all of the delegates to preparatory group meetings in the last four years, for their ingenuity and willingness to compromise in achieving agreed positions which ultimately give a better outcome for everybody.  I believe we carried this spirit effectively into the conference. I’m pleased to say that the CEPT played a strong role in making constructive proposals to bring together sometimes widely differing views to something that everybody could not only accept, but make use of in their own parts of this ever shrinking world.”

   At the end of the conference, 193 countries signed the Final Acts, the text of which can be found on the ITU website: http://www.itu.int/md/R12-WRC12-R-0001/en. The Chairman of the conference also made a report on the frequency problems caused by Italy to neighbouring countries and for the first time in the history of ITU, this issue has been recognized and accepted by the ITU. An action plan has been drawn up by Italy to resolve these issues and progress of this action plan shall be monitored by ITU and posted on its website.

2. Representatives from the MCA also attended the following meetings:
   
   1. FSR European Postal Regulatory Forum: The first European Postal Regulation Forum was recently organised at the Florence School of Regulation and attended by representatives from the MCA.  This conference focused on the Postal Universal Service Obligation (‘USO’) and catered for postal operators, both incumbents and new entrants, along with national regulators, representatives of the European Commission as well as other relevant stakeholders. Presentations were given by the postal operators and the national regulators on the current definition of the Postal USO and the consequences of this definition, taking into consideration the changing communication behavior of European citizens. Discussions on how a modern communication USO should be defined and the financial implications of a modernized USO definition, in particular for the historical postal operators, also took place.
       
   2. RIDE NCC Round Table Meeting: As part of its Internet Governance initiatives, the MCA attended the RIPE NCC Roundtable Meeting for Government and Regulators.  The RIPE NCC is one of five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) providing Internet resource allocations, registration services and coordination activities that support the operation of the Internet globally. The round table meeting was attended by all Member States and discussed IPv4 exhaustion and IPv6 deployment, cross-border law enforcement as well as the Internet Registry System. An overview of the data and analysis tools being developed by the RIPE NCC, and their relevance to the public sector's need for data and intelligence about Internet use and development was also discussed.  Further information can be found at: https://www.ripe.net/
       
   3. Other meetings: MCA representatives also attended the ITU Congress and the BEREC Plenary.

MCA Publications

1. Decision on must carry obligations: This decision implements the designation of obligations on providers of networks used for television and radio distribution services in line with the MCA guidelines published on 2nd December 2011. [see http://www.mca.org.mt/article/must-carry-obligations-designation-obligations-providers-networks-used-television-and-radio]

Other publications

1. Publication of an Expression of Interest for the roll-out of a Fibre-to-the-Home network: The Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications launched a call for expressions of interest in the roll-out of a next generation broadband infrastructure that allows for ultra-fast broadband services, across Malta and Gozo.

   The Government of Malta is committed to accelerating the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband services to all areas of Malta and Gozo, concentrating initially, on priority broadband users such as schools, hospitals, businesses and providers of other public services where possible. Following this, we plan to reach all residential areas in a phased approach through a nation-wide Fibre-to-the-Home network. [see https://mitc.gov.mt/newsitem.aspx?newsid=2406]

Tenders issued

1. Tender for the provision of advertising, public relations and other communications services to the MCA: Interested parties are invited to submit their tenders by no later than 12.00hrs on Thursday, 5th April 2012. [see http://www.mca.org.mt/tender/provision-advertising-public-relations-and-other-communications-services-mca]

Litigation / Legislation

1. DHL appeal continued with cross examination of DHL’s representative by MCA.
    
2. A first sitting in an appeal filed by Melita contesting a fine of €1000 for failing to notify the MCA of the withdrawal of a channel  was held. Melita presented its evidence in this regard.
    
3. The Eighth Schedule to SL 399.28 was amended with fees being included under this Schedule concerned rights of use after the 1st March 2012 for the provision of broadband wireless access services for each paired 3.5MHz channel in the 3400-3600 MHz band and in the 3600-3800 MHs band.