Ukraine adopts plan for radio frequency band use

The Ukraininan government has approved a plan for the use of radio frequency bands in the country, Transport and Communications Minister Viktor Bondar told the press in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"All the standards are stipulated [in the plan] - which technologies will be used on certain frequency bands.
New generation technologies were foreseen as well, including digital television, WiMAX, WiFi and 3G," he said.

He said that the approval of the plan allows the National Communications Regulatory Commission (NCRC) to start preparing tenders to sell licences for the use of frequency bands. "Now, the issue of tenders will depend on the commission. The government has made everything possible. It is the commission's turn to act now," Bondar said. He said that first tenders could be prepared in three months and these could be tenders for issuing licenses for WiMAX and WiFi standards.

The minister also said that the adoption of the plan would allow the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting to approve a program to launch digital television and to start the distribution of such licences. "At present, there are 78 zones in Ukraine. There is a proposal to use areas near the border, as now we have a unique chance to use these frequency bands and not to allow foreign television companies to use our frequencies as it occurred with analogue television and radio broadcasting," Bondar said.

He criticized a tender conducted by the National council for four frequency bands in Kyiv to launch experimental digital television."They started to distribute the most attractive bands in Kyiv," he said.

Source: Media Network, Ukraine Business Daily

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