Apritel issued a statement stating its dissatisfaction with the conditions of the tender that will choose the telecommunications operator in charge of multiplying the school bandwidth by 10. The association of telecommunications operators considers that «the technical specifications of the tender substantially reduce competitiveness or even eliminate the possibility of bidding for many of the telecommunications operators».
Apritel points out the fact that the tender asks for broadband services that deviate from «the reference offers defined by the regulator» and, at the same time, requires deadlines that for the provision of services only possible to an already installed operator. it does not respect the rules foreseen by the law in «structuring the supply in batches, preventing the selection of the most competitive operator for each area of ​​service provision».
The model chosen for the contest will prevent the State from taking advantage of the competitive telecommunications market, guarantees the organization, which questions the Government’s choices and its orientation towards a competitive solution.
At issue is the coverage of 6 thousand schools with broadband connections of 48 Mbps, about 10 times more than the current average speed, a project announced under the Technological Plan for Education and which foresees an investment in the order of 14 millions of euros.
The sector association has been working on the development of a set of good practices for the organization of competitions involving the selection of telecommunications operators and guarantees that in the procedures where these rules have been used, the savings generated reach 70 percent.
In the near future, an observatory should be launched which will aim to monitor the implementation of these good practices in the public procedures that are being carried out.
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2008-02-21 – ME opens tender to multiply Internet speed by 10 in schools
