The Ministry of Communications is set to publish its final WiMAX policy today, or by Sunday at the latest. The policy will include a revolutionary proposal for encouraging deployment of a WiMAX network in which the money will be returned to the operator winning the tender as the network penetration deepens and the deployment broadens. The idea is to create an incentive for new operators to deploy as large a network as possible.
The ministry's policy calls for the WiMAX tender to be conducted on the basis of license fees, but there is also an option in which the tender winner will be the operator who offers the lowest price per minute for calls. The tenders committee that the ministry will soon set up will have to make a decision on this matter.
As "Globes" reported, the Ministry of Communications has decided not to wait for the Ministry of Defense's promises to release 2.5 megahertz bandwidths. The Ministry of Communications believes that the bandwidths will be released on schedule by 2010, and therefore decided not to delay publication of its WiMAX policy. This means that mobile communications operators will only receive the bandwidths in 2011, which they may not accept. The operators are demanding that should not be discriminated against in the present tender, and that they should receive the bandwidths for 4G networks now.
Sources inform ''Globes'' that the Ministry of Communications will offer by tender by year-end two frequency bandwidths amounting to 30 megahertz per operator, under its WiMAX policy. New operators, such as 012 Smile.Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq:SMLC; TASE: SMLC) will have priority, followed by MIRS Communications Ltd.
The Ministry of Communications has adopted the EU Directive for fixed WiMAX, which means that the 3.5 gigahertz bandwidth will only be allocated to operators planning to deploy fixed networks.
The ministry's timetable calls for the tenders committee to formulate its final terms for the WiMAX tender within a few months. The process will therefore probably only be concluded towards the end of the year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 26, 2008
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