About BGN 130 million are expected in the budget from the mobile operators for the use of the 700 MHz and 800 MHz frequencies. This was stated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications, Hristo Alexiev, after the adopted changes by the Council of Ministers to the Tariff for the fees collected by the Communications Regulation Commission under the Electronic Communications Act. "We have successfully finished releasing the frequencies and start using them for civil needs. For 20 years, the governments before us have failed to make a decision on this issue.," the Deputy Prime Minister said. He added that the changes in the fee tariff apply only to the previously unused spectrum in the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands and have nothing to do with the service prices for citizens.
Hristo Alexiev also pointed out that this decision aims to stimulate the interest of mobile operators to use the spectrum in the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands. "Up to now, these frequencies have not been used for civil needs, and the state has not received income from them in the budget. Apart from the expected one-time revenues of about BGN 130 million for 2023, mobile operators will pay about BGN 8 million annually fees," he specified.
Successful frequency sharing tests have already been conducted by the Air Force and enterprises providing electronic communications networks and services. After a public consultation, the Communications Regulation Commission proposed changes to the fees that take into account the state of the market, the need to stimulate the 5G networks development and encourage investment and innovation.
The amendment is also related to the implementation of Reform 2: Effective use of radio frequency spectrum of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, which will guarantee the payments. Bulgaria must complete the procedures for granting use of radio frequency spectrum in the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands, on which the accelerated deployment and upgrade of 5G networks depends. Our country is one of the last in Europe where this range is not yet used to provide fifth generation mobile services.