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The decision of the former Cabinet of Ministers to reserve the 5G frequency band for the needs of the Lithuanian Radio and Television Center (LRTC) is another indisputable and unreasonable action that threatens Lithuania’s leadership in the field of communications.
Lithuania is mentioned in EU documents among the countries that have one of the best developed communication infrastructures in Europe. Additionally, we were able to do this by offering online customers one of the lowest prices in Europe. Great achievements that must be further strengthened: launch an auction of 5G frequencies and catch up with the countries that have managed to surpass us: Singapore, South Korea, leaving the countries of the Old Continent far away.
LRTC has other plans. The frequency auction plans are expected to be postponed for two years as LRTC took over the implementation and maintenance of the critical network from the Interior Ministry. The government hastily passed a resolution to reserve nearly a third of all frequency resources for the critical network, suspend the auction announcement, and disrupt the investment environment.
The goals are noble and understandable: firefighters, police and other officials will have access to a secure and modern connection. No one is arguing that we should dedicate all the necessary resources to providing the people who protect and rescue us.
The devil, as always, is in the details.
The network that officials need can be set up quickly and inexpensively – just follow the example of other countries or the UK, where national operators provide secure network services.
It is easy to do the same in Lithuania. There are up to three mobile networks in the country, all of which cover more than 99 percent. territories. No additional investment is required in land rental, tower construction, and other long-term jobs, just grab it and use it.
However, the LRTC that dreams of building our politics and network does not look to Great Britain but to Albania. There it was decided to abandon the existing infrastructure and build a new communications network from scratch.
If this decision is made in Lithuania, we will all pay dearly for it. And not once, but at least four.
First, building a network in the open field is very expensive and time consuming. Yes, this is good news for network builders, taxpayer-dependent employees whose jobs will be safe for years to come. And doctors or teachers will be less happy: a state that does not scratch the money from their salaries will easily spend at least 43 million euros on the construction of an additional network.
Second, no network will function without radio frequencies. Today, operators are waiting for essential resources for 5G to be allocated and will pay a high price for them. In the auction a few years ago, communications companies exceeded their budgets by more than 30 million euros, and the developers of VKRT intend to make up to a third of the spectrum available for free.
Naturally, the state will receive less money for the rest. I know that in the eyes of the bureaucrats, this is a problem: if we run out, we will borrow and our children and grandchildren will pay. Only here for all of us, the citizens of the state, will this another bitter pill be.
By the way, in Sweden, the critical network operator participated in the auction on an equal footing and paid 40 million for the right to use the frequencies. To the Swedish budget. Then, after estimating all the costs, the true cost of the solution is seen and a fair cost-benefit analysis can be performed.
Third, after losing a third of the frequency, carriers simply won’t be able to provide the connection quality we’re used to. Today, we pride ourselves on one of the fastest Internet connections in the world – it helps us compete, attract investment, and create new jobs. However, without sufficient radio spectrum, operators simply will not be able to physically guarantee such quality in the future. Yes, the connection will be, but bad and slow compared to other countries. As a family, we are forced to move from a three-room apartment to a two-room apartment: the operators will survive, but the quality of services will fall, and we will once again look with jealousy at Estonia, which is ahead of us and attracts investors. , and now possibly Latvia, because 5G already works there.
Finally, in fourth place, we will all get higher mobile bills. Operators with fewer radio frequencies will have to build a denser 5G network, spend more on equipment and land leases. There are no miracles – as costs increase, so do prices. Lithuania, named in European Commission documents as the country with the cheapest mobile connection in Europe, will also lose this achievement.
Poor connection quality and higher people bills? Yes, this is the build price for the Critical Communication Network powered by LRTC. In European Union studies, the Lithuanian-driven critical connection deployment path has been identified as 40 percent more expensive than Britain’s chosen critical network deployment plan.
The strangest thing is that the main client of such a network, the Interior Ministry, openly says in meetings and discussions that they do not need such “help”, but the political decision-maker is moving forward.
Of course, there is always another way. It is possible not to spend money on the construction of a new network, not to build hundreds of additional towers, and not to buy expensive communication equipment, but simply to use the existing mobile communication infrastructure. Such examples abound in the world, and even countries much richer than Lithuania choose such a solution.
Agents’ cars now travel the same roads and, when necessary, have priority when turning on beacons. The same can be done with communications, in which case 11,000 agents would receive all the necessary resources on the communication routes in case of emergency. No matter how much road users wish, we did not build a separate Vilnius – Klaipeda highway in Lithuania, so that only special roads can circulate. services? We understand that this is inefficient, but it is equally inefficient to build a separate communication network.
With the existing infrastructure, officials can have the right connection now, not in 5 years. Lithuania would save millions, who could target relevant areas and look more calmly in the eyes of teachers and doctors. We all get world-class services and we don’t have to worry about waiting for bills.
Otherwise, for the third time, we would be going up in the same LRTC rake – creating a new network, wasting public funds and putting additional costs in the hump for consumers.
I hope that the coalition of right-wing parties will stick to the stated values and make decisions based on cost-benefit analysis (where all lines are added on costs, not just monetary costs) and will not allow the progress of Lithuania. by the spirit of “state capitalism” of the previous government.
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