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Telecom.IT : Primary telecom spectrum auction to start on Sept. 10
The primary telecom spectrum auction where five telecommunications operators have qualified will start on Sept. 10, 2012, and the results will be announced in October, the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) said.
'The operators participating in the auction are 2K Telecom, Cosmote Romanian Mobile Telecommunications, Orange Romania, RCS & RDS and Vodafone Romania,' the ANCOM release says.
In the first primary round, the price for each block of the frequency bands put up for auction by ANCOM will be equal to the starting price for the respective category. Each bidder is invited to submit an offer indicating the number of blocks in each category he wants to bid for. At the end of each primary round, all the offers received are centralized and if in the respective round demand exceeds the number of frequency blocks available in one or several categories, a new primary round is organized.
According ANCOM, if several primary rounds are organized, the price for a block in the bands with demand in excess will be increased and notified to the bidders. The primary rounds end after a round where demand for blocks no longer exceeds the number of available frequency blocks for all block categories.
After the primary rounds, the auction can carry on with the organization of supplementary rounds, if frequency blocks remain unassigned following the primary rounds, and ends with the round where operators can bid for the desired position within the band.
For the first time in Romania, ANCOM puts up for auction through a competitive selection procedure the rights to use frequencies in the bands of 800, 900, 1,800 and 2,600 MHz for the provision of mobile communication services - voice and data - for a 15-year period.
As part of the procedure, operators can bid for two types of licenses: long-term (15 years, effective till April 2029) and short-term (one year and three months, effective till April 2014).
The starting price for each block of the four bands was established by Government Resolution. Thus, the minimum price for each of the 800 MHz blocks assigned for 15 years is 35 million euros, the price for the 900 MHz blocks is 40 million euros; 10 million euros for the 1,800 MHz blocks, 4 million euros per paired block and 3 million euros, respectively, per unpaired 2,600 MHz blocks. For the blocks to be assigned for 15 months, the values were set at 1.7 million euros in the 900 MHz band and 0.8 million euros in the 1,800 MHz band.