Connex and Orange have won the tender for the third generation (3G) mobile telephony services, which allows high-speed Internet access and multimedia services, such as videoconferencing and TV broadcasts, to be enjoyed via mobile phones, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCTI) has announced.
The two companies were the only operators to submit bids for the 3G licences, with two more of the licences auctioned by the Ministry still available.
MCTI says the two remaining licences will be auctioned again by the end of the year. The evaluation committee decided that Orange and Connex had met the criteria for participation by proving they had access to the necessary capital to build a network capable of providing 3G services and that the solution presented in the bid was technically feasible.
"As of today, two companies in Romania hold the required licences to provide third generation mobile telephony services. (...) We estimate that more than one quarter of Romanians will be able to choose to use these latest generation services by 2006, and I mean video-telephony and high-speed Internet via mobile phones," said Communications Minister Adriana Ticau.
The two mobile operators to have already joined the 3G race will pay a clearance fee for the frequency range allotted to them of $35 million. The first instalment of $10.5 million is to be paid in the next 120 days, and the remaining five instalments, each of $4.9 million, will be paid annually no later than 30 January of every year, starting in 2006.
The minimum coverage the two service providers are bound by the licence to provide will be Bucharest and 10 other large cities in Romania to be picked by each licence holder.
Evaluation of the coverage, distribution and development rate has been devised in three stages. The operators presented a commitment for each stage regarding the number of people in an area benefiting from the services, how many kilometres of national road will be covered by the service, and the total surface area covered. The minimum requirements of the job specifications book will be transferred to the licences as obligations together with the commitments of the licence holders. The licences are granted for 15 years and can be renewed upon request from their holders for a further 10-year period at no additional cost.
So far MCTI has granted licences to Motorola, Ericsson, Siemens Nokia, Huawei and Alcatel to experiment with 3G services. Holders are not allowed to use their test licences for commercial purposes, and providing services to third parties is strictly forbidden for the duration of the experiments.
dan.dragomir@zf.ro
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