Licensing of telecommunications services is canceled from January 1, 2018. However, the NCCIR (National Commission for the State Regulation of Communications and Informatization) to issue licenses to operators. The BRDO Office has prepared a draft Resolution that will permanently cancel licenses for telecom operators.
The budget revenues from licenses for telecommunications services amounted to only 0.07% and 0.08% of the total amount of telecommunication-specific fees. The state budget for 2018 doesn’t include such revenues at all, but the NCCIR plans to raise 12 million UAH of fees in this year.
According to BRDO experts, the greatest harm from such licensing is not extra cash expenses, but bureaucratic procedures hindering the activity of telecommunications operators, which are mostly small and medium businesses. Licensing manipulations allow to deny access for telecommunications operators to work or force them to seek “consultations” to register documents properly and receive permits in a timely manner.
Moreover, due to the current situation, Ukraine violates the EU Association Agreement that provides for the cancellation of licensing of telecom activities and the transition to the notification principle of access to the market.
Thus, the Resolution developed by BRDO experts will permanently cancel telecom licenses, identifying clear and unambiguous market rules. he document will soon be considered at the Government’s deregulation meeting.