The Knesset’s Economics Committee today (Monday) approved for second and third readings the government’s proposal to amend the Communications Law, which seeks to reform the manner in which the provision of communications services is regulated.
This is an amendment to a law that is supposed to bring significant relief to the licensing of communications services and will transfer a large part of the services provided under licenses to the route of permits.
According to the Ministry of Communications, amending the law will reduce the regulatory burden on the licensing of most communications services in Israel, and will apply an easy and fast green route to entering the market. At the same time, the state will take a hard hand in enforcing those who improve the rules.
Similar to the European regulatory model, the law proposes shortening bureaucratic procedures, easing market entry, and reducing costs. Today, every person is required to obtain a license from the Ministry of Communications, before starting to operate in the communications market, for any activity involving devices and technologies such as: vehicle detection, pager, voicemail, conference calls, PTT applications, network deployment in complexes such as universities and kibbutzim and more.
An amendment to the law will mean that some of the communication services will not require a regulation at all and some will be transferred to a quick and easy regulation format (“general permit”). On the green route, a permit will be issued within 10 working days, instead of an expensive and lengthy procedure of obtaining a license that lasts several months. As part of the reform, out of about 175 licensees, 75 will be exempted, and 75 will move to a fast-track general permit route within two weeks.
Minister of Communications Yoaz Handel: “My and the government’s main task in general, along with the deployment of infrastructure, is to reduce regulation. The Communications Law has not changed since 1982, and as technology has advanced, the Israeli bureaucracy has stalled.”
Ministry of Communications Director General Liran Avishar Ben-Horin: “We are changing the regulatory worldview and promoting a lively and kicking communications market. It is a gateway and a call for innovative and fast players, who would never have entered the market with the regulatory burden and licenses in the current model, to enter the market with new technology, products and business models. “