universal service wireless broadband policy in serbia

09 September, ITU Workshop, GENEVE

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UNIVERSAL SERVICE WIRELESS BROADBAND

POLICY IN SERBIA

Prof.dr Nataša Gospić, University Belgrade dr Dragan Bogojević, University Belgrade

dr Milenko Cvetinovic, RATEL


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BASIC REFERENCES

• TELECOM ACT

• STRATEGY FOR TELECOM SECTOR DEVELOPMENT 2006-2010

• STRATEGY FOR INFORMATION SOCIETY IN SERBIA

• EU DIRECTIVES


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Telecom Act -Legal provisions

• Universal service” means the set of telecommunications services of specified quality and scope which shall be available to all users of the public telecommunication network in the Republic of Serbia, at reasonable prices;

• The Ministry responsibility is to define the list of universal services to be provided by the operators of public fixed telecommunications networks, based on the proposal made by the Agency;

• The Agency shall designate the telecommunications operator of a public telecommunications network that shall be responsible for the provision of universal services.


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Initial scope of universal service• The initial scope of universal service must include the

following:– 1.access to a public fixed telephone service, including the

service of data transmission using voice telephony which enables quality access to the Internet;

– 2. special measures to ensure equivalent access to the public voice service for the disabled and socially disadvantaged users;

– 3. free access to emergency services;– 4. public pay phone service; and– 5. access to telephone operator and directory services.

• NO BROADBAND SERVICES INCLUDED• HOWEVER, INFORMATION SOCIETY STRATEGY,

AND OBLIGATIONS FROM SEE AGENDA PLUS DOCUMENT CHALLENGE BB ACCESS FOR ALL SCHOOLS


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TELECOM STRATEGY OBJECTIVES

• Growth of the Internet penetration rate over 30%;• Increase of broadband service users penetration;• In order to provide broadband network connection to as

many residents as possible at affordable price, relevant state authorities need to:– subsidize building of broadband networks in geographic areas

where such building is not profitable for commercial providers;– provide public Internet access terminals in public places

(schools, public institutions, libraries, post offices, train and bus stations, health centers, community centers, centers for agricultural products, etc.);

– prevent attempts of competition limitation and market monopolization;


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US IN STRATEGY FOR TELECOM DEVELOPMENT

Establish the Fund for universal service cost recovery and ensure availability of the universal service;

In order to stimulate competition, fulfill universal service obligation and apply technologies enabling fast building of access networks and primarily broadband access, the Ministry will adopt assignment for fixed wireless access.

3,5GHz


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3,5 GHz

REGULATORY AGENCY FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS - RATEL Proposals of assignment plans for 3,5 GHz frequency band and division

of the territory of the Republic of Serbia into areas, i.e. towns, applying the criteria of attractiveness for foreign investors and technical optimality. Allocation of radio-frequency bands will be carried out in accordance with the Law, through a public tender procedure for a fixed telecommunications network license.

Long-term user protection, regulatory obligations and limits, numbering availability, promotion of market competition, amount of initial investments, technical and economic feasibility and, in particular, to efficient radio-frequency usage.

In case there is a need, propose to the Ministry to enable license issuance for operation in other frequency bands as well for needs of building of networks, which include fixed wireless access.


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CREATION OF US PROJECT

• In order to fulfill the obligation of introducing the Universal Service Policy, NRA-RATEL got obligation to:– Make a detailed overview of the situation of

telecom infrastructure and telecom service provisioning in the whole territory of the Republic of Serbia, with proposal for US solutions

• PROJECT STARTED IN JULY 2007• The project is executed by joint work of Transport and

Traffic Engineering Faculty, University Belgrade and RATEL.


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OUTLINES OF THE US PROJECT

1. INTRODUCTION

2. PRESENT SITUATION – ANALISYS (I PHASE)

3. RESEARCH IN FIELDS (II PHASE)

4. RESULTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS


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I PHASE OF THE US PROJECT• Analysis of current telecom development in 24 regions and city of

Belgrade – 7.498.001 inhabitants, – 2.521.190 households– 4.715 settlements

• DEFINITION OF THE DATA BASES INLUDING:– number of populated places (settlements with more then 50 inhabitants

and/or 20 households)– inhabitants – inhabitants aging– migration parameters– employments– GDP on municipality level– number of fixed phones– teledensity– identification of settlement without telephone, – identification of US critical municipality/region


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I PHASE-MUNICIPALITY’S DATABASE

• 161 Municipalities• Municipality’s statistics includes:

– Existing fixed telephony services– Mobile signal coverage– Internet– Public pay phones– Marginalized social categories– Number of handicap persons and their

locations


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THE DATABASE FOR SETTLEMENTS

• For each settlement (4.715 ): – Number of fixed telephone subscribers– Inhabitants index 2002/1991 – Mobile signal coverage for:

• settlements with 0%, 4% and 10% penetration

– Internet access


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Extract from Settlements Statistics, based on data from 2002 and 2006

RigionMunicipalitySettlement

Number of inhabitants Index. Households fixed tel

%MTL/100 inhabit

2002/1991

Republic of Serbia 7498001 99,0 2521190 2410060 32.1%

Central Serbia 5466009 97,5 1811233 1794499 32.8%

Vojvodina 2031992 103,1 709957 615561 30.3%

City of Belgrade 1576124 101,5 567325 636414 40.4%

Barajevo 24641 118,2 8254 9772 39.7%

Arnajevo 853 94,8 276 231 27.1%

Barajevo 8325 136,2 2789 3533 42.4%

Bacevac 1624 136,4 561 820 50.5%

Beljina 810 96,7 303 247 30.5%

Bozdarevac 1218 76,1 382 484 39.7%


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Criteria for definition of critical settlements for US

• Basic:+ 20 households and/or + 50 inhabitants

• Additional:– no mobile signal– inhabitant’s index (2002/1991)– school, post office, ambulance, on the border

to EU.....


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Structuring of critical settlements for US

• Number of inhabitants• Potential touristy

locations• Natural resources• Requirements for BB

access


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Tariff packages

• Social categories

• People with special needs

• Overview on other utilities tariff packages

• Needs for BB services


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Identification of US settlements - example


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II PHASE

• RESEARCH IN FIELD • COMPARISON OF REAL SITUATION WITH I PHASE

OBTAINED DATA• FINAL RESULTS • EVALUATION OF POSSIBLE SCENARIOS

– ELEMENTS FOR TECHO-ECONOMIC ANALISYS

• RECOMMENDATIONS• PROPOSAL FOR INITIAL

US FUND


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Research in field

• Questionnaire for field investigation is prepared.

• The Questionnaire contains 20 questions.

• 14 regions, 40 municipalities and 253 settlements are visited.

• About 30 persons were included in this work.


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II PHASE RESULTS

• Based on answers from the Questionnaire following conclusions are carried out:– Comparison of number of inhabitants and number of

households in field and in statistical data are high (correlation coefficient > 0.9)

– Correlation between number of phones in “electronic yellow pages” and number from field investigation is high (correlation coefficient > 0.9), but only if compared data are not older then 6 months and if elaboration is performed on settlements with fixed phone penetration less then 10%.


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Estimation of needs for US in settlements with penetration ≤ 10% • Needs for fixed phone roughly could be measured as

number of households without phones.• Fixed telephony is main request• As about 97% of settlements are covered by mobile

signals and in average more then 100% of inhabitants have mobile phones, needs for mobile telephony “are proved in practice”.

• Analysis shows that computer penetration is very low (2%)

• About 35% of analyzed settlements expressed interest for Internet access


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Economical and telecommunications development

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

0 50 100 150 200 250ниво дохотка

ниво телефона

Close correlation has been identified between economical development and telecom development; Most critical places were on the south, where the economic development is lower.

Relation between level of telephone penetration and level of national income on municipality level

Level of teledensity

level of national income


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US for people with disabilities and low income households

• Background-data to start with National statistics – number and categories of possible users existing special measures in Serbia and other countries

• Approach Defining measures to ensure 3A (Availability & Accessibility& Affordability) for

disabled and low income users Analyzing social categories (user groups) who can enjoy rights on special

measures (number and needs) along with different sets of services (fixed telephony and/or mobile telephony and/or Internet access) and costs

• Problems inconsistency in disability definition Lack of reliable statistical data – (severe variations from 400 to 800 thousands)-

not all in system of social care• Conclusion / Solution proposal

Measures to ensure access to special payphones and other equipment Models of special tariff schemes (five models for three different sets of services

and two types of user groups)


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Residential Business

How many?Potential users

total number vary from 60000 to 500000. Estimated number - around 170000

total number 500 Estimated number - 43

Who?Included categories

People with 100% disability (vision, hearing, muscular strength), or less then 100% but users of social care, households with disabled children or with low income (users of family subvention)

institutions for accommodation and social care of disabled people and institutions for children

What?Subventions *public fixed telephone: monthly- 50% of

subscription fee and 300 free impulses*broadband access - 50% of monthly subscription fee for ADSL 1024/128 kb/s(mobile telephony - special tariffs in case no access to public fixed telephone)

*public fixed telephone: monthly- 50% of subscription fee and 600 free impulses*broadband access - 100% of monthly subscription fee for ADSL 1024/128 kb/s

How much?Estimated annual costs

5104320,79 € ≈ 34,72% of US fund(including VAT: 6023098,533 € ≈ 40,97% of US fund)

In numbers…


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Methodology for Appropriate USTechnology Selection

Fuzzy logic model


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Techno-economic analysis

• Techno-economic analysis for all US critical region is performed with several technological options:– VSAT– Mobile GSM / GPRS / UMTS – WiMAX– CDMA 450 MHz– Classical wireline access networks based on copper

and/or optical technologies.• Results of the techno-economic analysis are

used for calculation of initial amount for US fund.


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US policy scenarios:

• Based on:– Strategy for telecom development– Results from Phase I and Phase II– Obligations from approved eSEE Agenda plus

(November 2007, Sarajevo) and – EU Directive on US 2002/22

• The Project proposes three scenarios for US policy


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Proposed scenarios for US policy

• Scenario A: US should include the same set of services as it is defined in Telecom Act with additional service for functional Internet (EU Directive 2002/22) and broadband access for schools (eSEE Agenda plus) and institutions for handicap people.

• Scenario B: US should include different set of services per different regions, depending on their telecommunications and economical development and local authorities’ plans and initiatives. This scenario includes broadband services as part of US in regions that have less then 20 settlements without fixed phones, proper telecommunications infrastructure and economical development above republic average. For other regions Scenario A should be applied.

• Scenario C: Implementation of the Scenario A and the Scenario B (broadband services) on the following way: in the period from 2009-2010 application of Scenario A for all regions and beyond 2010 application of Scenario B for broadband services.


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What is next?

• Based on findings from this Project, RATEL should propose US policy

• The proposed policy will be publicly discussed and after that it should be approved by the Ministry for telecommunication and Information Society.

• IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLICY FOR US


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Bill Gates

• “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten. Don't let yourself be lulled into inaction.“


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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !

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universal service wireless broadband policy in serbia

Documents

broadband access

public voice service

universal service obligation

public fixed telephone

itu workshop

quality access

public institutions

equivalent access