Bulgaria - Regulation and Spectrum - History

17.03.2022

As of March 2022, the situation in Bulgaria in relation to regulation for DAB+ is reported as follows:

The CRC has declared its intention to handle a contest for the issuance of the following permissions for broadcasting in band 174-230 MHz:

2 permits with national scope, covering 12 service areas (Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Vidin, Kardzhali, Pleven, Plovdiv, Ruse, Smolyan, Sofia, Stara Zagora and Shumen);
42 permits with regional scope covering the territorial boundaries of the relevant service areas: Blagoevgrad (4 permits); Burgas (4 permits); Varna-city (2 permits); Kardzhali (4 permits); Plovdiv (4 permits); Smolyan (4 permits); Sofia (4 permits); Sofia-city (10 permits); Stara Zagora (4 permits); Strandzha (2 permits).

CRC’s decision includes a call for submission of intentions for use of spectrum under the above conditions. Following the public consultations, the CRC shall issue a decision by which it may:

Announce contest(s) for issuing of permission(s) – in case the number intentions submitted is greater than the number of permits that can be issued;
Take actions for issuing of permission(s) – in case the number of the submitted intentions is less than or equal to the number of permits that can be issued.

In September 2021 the Bulgarian regulator - CRC - launched a procedure for a public consultation on the prospects of using radio frequency 174-230 MHz. The CRC recommends DAB+, and the consultation aims to explore the level of interest in the market for the licensing of national and regional DAB+. The consultation period lasts for one month. Read the consultation documentation here (Bulgarian).

At its meeting on 2 December 2021, the CRC adopted the results of the public consultation. The table with the summarized results of the public consultation for DAB along with the decision will be published on the CRC website shortly.

At the end of 2018 a draft Regulatory Policy for the Administration of radio frequency spectrum was published for public consultation. According to the draft Policy the Communications Regulation Commission has the capacity to issue DAB+ licences however as yet no licences have been issued.

The draft Regulatory Policy notes: “The specification of the T-DAB / T-DAB + technology, as well as the T-DAB / T-DAB + facilities have been developed and approved by ETSI / EBU8 / CENELEC9, based on proposals from the WorldDAB Forum”.

The draft regulatory policy is available to download here (in Bulgarian).