SEEsummary #43

Reportedly, in a letter sent to European Commission Executive Vice-President, Margrethe Vestager, telecom company Huawei challenged the legislative proposal which is considered by the Romanian authorities and aimed at the exclusion of certain companies from the provision of 5G equipment unless certain conditions are met. Namely, if adopted the rules would require 5G equipment suppliers to pass through a pre-authorisation regime. The company also pointed out that such deliberations come as a follow-up to previous arrangements with the U.S. in the field of 5G security. Huawei argues that the proposed rules are contrary to the fundamental European Union principles, inter alia, legal certainty, predictability, and sincere cooperation, while also depriving the company of the right to appeal. Recently, Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban clearly spoke against cooperation with Huawei. The Romanian parliament is expected to pass the legislation in early December, with a public tender for the construction of 5G networks scheduled for 2021. Among other SEE countries that signed respective 5G Clean Network declarations with the U.S. are Bulgaria, Kosovo*, North Macedonia, and Slovenia.

In November, the global association of mobile operators GSMA released its findings and recommendations related to 5G deployment in Russia. According to preliminary forecasts, around 20 percent of all mobile connections in the country will be based on 5G technology by 2025. However, the deployment plans can be significantly hindered by two factors: the governmental approval process, and over-restrictive rules for the placement of transmitting radio facilities and exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs), which might increase operating costs by ten times and require from telecom operators to install from three- to five-times more base stations. Moreover, according to the safety guidelines of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), there are no health risks related to using mobile phones or living near base stations. Therefore, in order to support smooth and efficient 5G deployment in Russia, it is recommended that authorities prioritise international rules elaborated by the ICNIRP over the  current national RF-EMFs standards.

The Serbian Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications signed the first contracts with four telecom operators (Telekom Serbia, Orion Telekom, SBB, and Sat Trakt) for the deployment of broadband networks in uncovered rural areas. The initiative is intended to facilitate access to fast and stable Internet in nine Serbian municipalities, covering 34 settlements with more than 5.5 thousand households. This, in turn, is expected to accelerate the digital inclusion of rural communities by enabling them to easily access online opportunities in areas such as education, entrepreneurship, culture, etc. The initiative is part of a broader project whose first phase is intended to enable broadband coverage for a total of 600 settlements with around 90 000 households, and which is expected to be completed in 2022.

Greece urged its citizens to reduce Internet usage during the peak hours after the state school e-learning system crashed. Greek Education Ministry reported that the incident was likely related to the Webex video-conferencing platform, and reassured that the state networks remained fully operational. The increased traffic can be explained by a shift to online studies due to the new wave of COVID-19 restrictions. Given the situation, the Greek authorities advised citizens to minimise Internet consumption during the peak hours (from 9 am to 6 pm), namely to avoid using online entertainment applications, social media, or video calls.