ANACOM authorised the temporary use of spectrum exempt from licensing for NOS Comunicações (NOS), under Decree-Law no. 10-D/2020, of 23 Marchhttps://dre.pt/application/file/a/130606978, which establishes exceptional and temporary measures of response to the Covid-19 disease epidemic related to the electronic communications sector.
NOS indicates that, alongside the use of 5G technology for testing purposes, this spectrum request seeks to support the mobile network to respond with quality to the changes of voice and data traffic consumption patterns, marked by the increased consumption, but also by a geographical change of consumption, exacerbated by the fact that the population's confinement, the massive use of telework and remote schooling triggered by the pandemic have led to additional demand for internet access solutions based on mobile technological solutions.
This arrangement shall be enforced only up to the termination of the termination of the measures of prevention, containment, mitigation and treatment of the SARS-Cov2 epidemiological infection and Covid-19 disease, as determined by the national public health authority (see article 12 of the aforesaid decree-law), and may terminate at a date before the end of the period of temporary use requested by NOS.
It should be noted that the use of this exceptional entitlement (during the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic) does not rise to any binding commitment by ANACOM or to any right, expectation or legally protected interest for NOS in relation to future use of the spectrum in question.
