most legal and regulatory frameworks adopted a regime based on the "presumption of renewal"<sup>10</sup> or "renewal expectancy." The United States, for instance, has adopted a "high renewal expectancy" standard for renewal of domestic public cellular radio telecommunications services. If the licensee meets certain standards in terms of using the spectrum for their intended purposes and complying with the rules and policies, they can file for renewal expectancy. The rationale behind such a regime is to guarantee a degree of regulatory discretion to allow the regulator to review the terms and conditions of the license, to reflect new technological developments in the general licensing policy, and to review the targets set in the original license.

Because license renewal results in the extension of the legal rights and obligations of the license holders, the authority that grants licenses is the same that is called upon for renewal. In countries where licensing is a joint decision between the ministry and the regulators, a similar regime is followed in the renewal process. In Morocco license renewal as license attribution is done by Ministerial Decree upon recommendation by ANRT.<sup>11</sup> In many developing countries there is a tendency to leave the renewal process to the discretion of the licensing authority without providing many details on the terms, criteria, and conditions for renewal.<sup>12</sup> A study of a sample of mobile licenses shows that conditions of renewal are usually loosely drafted.<sup>13</sup> **Providing details for license renewal or reissue is an important guarantee for regulatory certainty, which is a prerequisite for attracting potential investors entering the market of developing and emerging economies (Box 1).** Telecommunications License at least one year prior to the expiry of the then current Telecommunications License term, and (c) paid the applicable Telecommunications License renewal fee, if any.”

- 10  Sometimes referred to as rolling licenses

- 11  See article 5.4 of the cahier des charges of Medi Telecom: « _Décret No 2-99-895 du 19 Rabi II 1420 (2 Août 1999) portant attribution de la licence d’établissement et d’exploitation du deuxième réseau public de téléphone cellulaire de norme GSM._ »

- 12  See, article 7.2.2 of the License Agreement between the Telecom Regulatory Commission of Jordan and Jordan Telecom Company, “...the license shall always be renewed if the Licensee has operated successfully and in accordance with the laws and the License and if there are no reasons to refuse the renewal after successful negotiations. Available at: <u>http://www.trc.gov.jo/Static_English/agreements.shtm.</u>

- 13  In Liberia, a combination of increased investor’s appetite to be a first comer to the market and the lack of adequate legal and regulatory framework has led to a proliferation of licenses with a wide variation of terms and conditions including those related to renewal.  In some extreme cases, operators have succeeded to negotiate an automatic renewal policy independent from the licensing authorities, in other cases license renewal clauses give complete discretion to the licensing authorities without due process guarantees, and in other cases there is no clause at all on license renewal.

- 4 -