Vodafone has yet to make a decision on a possible bid for the Digital Terrestrial Television contest. AntĂłnio Carrapatoso says that the company has been analyzing the issue but adds that a decision has not yet been taken. Vodafone looks at DTT in a perspective of complementarity with the ADSL network that it has been building, but considers that this complementarity can also be guaranteed through agreements with the license winners.
The president of the Portuguese branch of the British operator pointed out some limitations to the DTT model, where he underlines the weak offer of television channels that can be supported there, between 30 and 40.
Carrapatoso also talked about Vodafone’s eventual interest in next generation networks, commonly known as Next Generation Networks (NGN), defending a model for Portugal that was based on investment sharing between operators interested in operating fiber. It left a potential interest of the company in this model open, but noting that such a decision would always have to be analyzed by the group in an international logic and in comparison with other investment opportunities.
The president of Vodafone Portugal also spoke about the regulatory measures aligned by the European Commission, namely with regard to mobile termination rates. He also criticized the Portuguese regulator’s proposal, which next year intends to reduce these tariffs to 6.5 cents, to consider that this is a very sudden change and that it does not give operators time to prepare. «This is a 40 percent reduction that, with so little time in advance, is very drastic.»
It is recalled that the EC has also announced its intention to introduce the new termination prices by the end of next year. In Portugal, prices are currently between 11 and 11.5 cents.
“Regulators cannot over-regulate because that way they hinder innovation”, defended the official who considers that the interest of the market is a more lenient action by regulators in markets that are working efficiently.
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