On Friday, 26 April, the European Commission approved Slovakia’s plan to compensate ‘Towercom’ for the direct costs that the digital terrestrial television (DTT) network operator bore after the release of the 700 MHz band.
This compensation is meant to cover the costs incurred by the migration of terrestrial television services from the 700 MHz frequency band to lower frequencies, which was done in order to use the 700 MHz band for terrestrial systems that are able to provide wireless broadband services.
This decision follows on from a decision of the European Parliament and the Council aiming to release the 700 MHz band for mobile communications before June 2020 and to allow the European DTT operators adversely affected to be adequately compensated in accordance with State aid rules.
The non-confidential version of the decision will be published in the State Aid Register on the European Commission website dedicated to competition under case number SA.55953.
The operator ‘Towercom’ is expected to receive €11.7 million in compensation. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)