The so-called white areas mean municipalities where none of the operators covers more than 97% of the population with a signal. Basically, these are only places where it is not commercially viable for any operator. This is where ČTÚ steps in and a certain percentage of these locations require operators.
In addition to municipalities, ČTÚ began to focus on basic residential units – it happens that the municipality fulfills the conditions of coverage, even if part of it remains uncovered. Now ČTÚ can ask operators to cover even these smallest residential units. Their list is constantly being supplemented.
The picture above shows the village of Horšovský Týn, which meets the conditions of coverage. Three of its parts, however, have weak coverage and it is precisely those that should be affected by the improvement.
Covering the white spots was required by the CTU for the first time in the allocation of the 700 MHz frequency for O2, when the operator had to cover 212 municipalities with a signal by a certain date. The Ministry of Industry and Trade should also have contacted the mayors directly, asking them to complain to the CTU about poorly covered areas. But now the CTU already carries out measurements everywhere by itself.
As of this year, it has thirteen of its own measuring cars, which drive across the Czech Republic in the style of Google or Seznam imaging cars and measure the mobile signal everywhere. As it is very complicated in some areas, operators have a choice of which locations to cover. They often develop more of them, because they know that it will only be possible for some of them.
A problem can arise if the location of the BTS is not permitted by the municipality’s spatial plan, if the infrastructure is not allowed by the land owners, or if there is disagreement due to the location (PLA and national parks). This will fail to supply power or data. But the onus is on the operator, who has to meet the coverage of a certain percentage of white spaces, even if he were to build a mobile BTS with a diesel aggregator there. But it doesn’t go to this extreme.
Operators have to cover a certain percentage of these places, as this is part of the conditions of allocation of the 900 and 1800 MHz frequency bands. This mostly concerns O2 and T-Mobil, whose allocations end this year. In the coming years, Vodafone will also have to make up for it.
Source: www.cnews.cz
