PTA rejects Vodafone’s request for MMDS licence extension

Iceland’s telecoms watchdog the Post and Telecom Administration (Post-og Fjarskiptastofnun, PTA) has rejected Vodafone Iceland’s (Fjarskipti’s) request to extend its concession to operate Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) in the 2500MHz-2690MHz frequency band until December 2018. The regulator said that it plans to assign the aforementioned frequencies for the provision of 4G LTE services in 2016, due to high demand for 4G suitable spectrum. To that end, Vodafone will be required to vacate the band by 1 July 2017. The telco is currently authorised to utilise all 23 channels, each with a bandwidth of 8MHz, for MMDS television services in the south and southwest of the country. Previously, Vodafone was granted a two-year extension (until December 2016) to its MMDS concession in June 2014.