Iceland’s telecoms watchdog the Electronic Communications Office of Iceland (ECOI) has opened a public consultation on its plan to renew Vodafone Iceland’s (Syn’s) concession in the 3600MHz band until 31 March 2023. The ICOI received an application and a timed development plan from Syn for the renewal of the spectrum, with Syn committing to build 5G network in ten rural areas of the country (nine of which currently have no 5G access), deploy 40 5G transmitters and provide 5G to over 20% of the population. Interested parties are given until 24 February 2022 to comment on the plan.
TeleGeography notes that the spectrum was initially awarded in May 2020 (effective until 31 December 2021) with a stipulation that a long-term allocation will be provided if the assigned frequencies are used in accordance with the ECOI’s criteria for efficient utilisation. At end-2021, however, ECOI highlighted that it faced uncertainty regarding the development of electronic communications legislation and the implementation of certain national security measures by the government to ensure the secure supply chain of mobile network equipment, and that the long-term allocation of the spectrum had been postponed. Instead, the regulator extended the concessions of Siminn and Nova for a short period (until 31 March 2023).
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