The obligations of mobile operators with third generation licenses for projects in the area of the Information Society are fulfilled and extinguished. What determines it is an order published yesterday by the Ministry of Finance which explains that the obligations in question were created, also by order, in January 2003, within the scope of the additional distribution of the spectrum that belonged to OniWay, however with the license revoked.
«The allocation of additional spectrum […] created the obligation for them to ensure the execution of the projects already hired by OniWay, as well as to contribute, in proportional terms, to the projects necessary for the development of the information society and as such defined by the Government «, explains the document.
A protocol signed last year between the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications and the three mobile operators established the conditions for the creation of an open fund with an initial capital of 25 million euros applied equally by the three operators, which the fulfillment of the agreed obligations on the ground.
Contributions from operators have been made and the last installment scheduled has now been reached, which ends up dictating the termination of its obligations.
In global terms, mobile operators committed to the date of granting licenses, in 2000, to make total investments of around 1.5 billion euros in the Information Society. About 100 million euros would be applied to projects aimed at citizens with special needs and 210 million euros would be channeled to institutions of proven social value. The remaining 440 million euros were reserved for the guarantee of special conditions for access to citizens with low income, plus 309 million euros to be applied in the development of content and services.
One of the areas where the funds already delivered by the operators will be applied is education, in the recently announced Technological Plan for Education.
Related News:
2007-07-24 – TMN invests 150 million euros to guarantee the supply of 300 thousand PCs to the program and | initiatives
2006-10-13 – Government recovers UMTS Working Group to boost compliance with operators’ obligations
2003-01-16 – Government opts for free distribution of the spectrum of OniWay
