IDF to vacate frequencies for 4G networks
The main obstacle blocking 4G is now the Communications Ministry, which has not completed its work on how to allocate the frequencies to carriers.
The Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Finance have reached agreement for the IDF to vacate frequencies which mobile carriers will use for 4G networks. Under the agreement, the Ministry of Finance will finance the vacating of the frequencies, but the price to be paid to the IDF was not disclosed.
The ministries previously agreed to NIS 150-200 million in compensation, but the deal fell apart on how the Ministry of Finance would receive the money. The result is that Israel lags behind other countries in deploying 4G networks.
The new agreement between the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Finance is not the main obstacle blocking 4G, which is due to delays by the Ministry of Communications and the tenders committee, which have not completed its work on how to allocate the frequencies to the carriers. While the vacating of the frequencies by the IDF is important, and it already vacated them, the bottleneck to 4G in Israel is the Ministry of Communications.
The mobile carriers must have 4G frequencies, as their networks are overloaded. Industry sources believe that within a year, some networks are liable to stop functioning because of the demand for mobile Internet.
Despite the agreement between the Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Finance, 2013 is shaping up as another lost year for 4G in Israel, because of the time needed to prepare the tender and complete the discussions between the companies and the Ministry of Communications on the frequencies’ allocation. The Ministry of Defense says that the frequencies will be vacated by the end of the year.
Another problem is that Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) also has to vacate 4G frequencies, but the Ministry of Communications only ordered it to do so at the beginning of 2013. A solution has to be found for Bezeq, which uses the frequencies to provide telephony services to sites with no landline infrastructures. The State Comptroller has slammed the government’s conduct on its management of the frequencies spectrum.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on May 9, 2013