By letter dated 16 December 2009, PTC sought revocation of the act of allocation of rights of use of frequencies associated with Multiplexers B to F and the corresponding acts by which the titles were issued, without forfeiture of the respective guarantee deposit. The grounds for PTC’s request were as follows: (i) bringing forward of investments with respect to Multiplexer A and loss of synergies; (ii) developments occurring in the subscription television market; (iii) economic and financial crisis, which broke out after it had submitted its proposal; (iv) allocation of greater transmission capacity for HD emissions; and (v) harmonized allocation of the 800 MHz band, following the publication of EC Recommendation 2009/848/EC of 28 October, which encouraged states to allocate this band to electronic communications services that facilitate development of the information society and elimination of the digital dividend, including fixed and mobile broadband services.
By determination of 29 January 2010, ICP-ANACOM approved the draft decision providing revocation of the act of granting such rights of use of frequencies and consequently, of the five titles that support them. According to the law, this draft decision was submitted to a prior hearing of interested parties, for a period of 20 working days
After PTC sent the ERC - Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (Media Regulatory Authority) an application requesting the revocation of the authorisation title for the activity of distribution operator, the two Authorities engaged in a process of mutual consultation.
On 15 April 2010, ICP-ANACOM received a letter from AdC - Autoridade da Concorrência (Competition Authority), subsequent to SONAECOM presenting a statement to AdC with identical content to the statement which it presented to ICP-ANACOM on 9 February 2010, AdC concluded that "the matter in question is not governed by Law no. 18/2003 of 11 June (Lei da Concorrência (Competition Law))" whereby it forwarded SONAECOM's statement to ICP-ANACOM.
Accordingly, by determination of 12 July 2010, ICP-ANACOM decided to revoke the act of granting rights of use of frequencies associated with Multiplexers B to F and, consequently, the five titles supporting the rights of use granted to PTC, without forfeiture of the guarantee deposit. ICP-ANACOM also determined the revocation decision as retroactive to the date of the draft decision of 29 January 2010.
In this context, by determination of 24 June 2010, ICP-ANACOM approved, pursuant to paragraph 2 of Resolution of Council of Ministers no. 26/2009, published on 17 March, the final decision on the detailed plan for the cessation of analogue terrestrial broadcasting (switch-off plan) associated with the introduction of DTT in Portugal.
Under this plan, the cessation of analogue terrestrial television will take place gradually, concluding on 26 April 2012.
In accordance with the provisions of the Switch-off Plan and by determination of 22 December 2010, ICP-ANACOM also approved the final decision that selected the relays in Alenquer, Cacém and Nazaré for the pilot phase of the cessation of analogue terrestrial broadcasting, scheduled for 12 May, 16 June and 13 October 2011, respectively 1.
ICP-ANACOM has overseen the migration from analogue to digital television, especially with regard to PTC's obligations as holder of the right of use of frequencies for the provision of DTT services, aimed at the transmission of television programme services of non-conditional access.
On 22 December 2010, ICP-ANACOM adopted a draft decision on the modification of some of the operating channels of Multiplexer A (Mux A) of the digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting service, assigned to PTC.
Also of importance with regard to DTT, during the first quarter of 2010, ICP-ANACOM conducted theoretical coverage studies with respect to the network deployed up to the end of 2009. Seeking an assessment of the coverage obligations in the respective rights of use of frequencies, the studies concluded that the network provided radio coverage of about 82 percent of the population, corresponding to an acceptable quality of coverage, in line with PTC's estimate (83 percent).
Seeking to provide information to the general public and the consumer in particular, ICP-ANACOM has provided the required explanations to questions raised and has provided constant updates on its website on the transition process from analogue to digital.
1 Meanwhile, in the public consultation on the cessation of analogue terrestrial broadcasting, a demographic, economic, social and technological characterisation was made of each of the regions which initially were potential candidates for the switch-off.
