Today ANCOM organized the first auction for the frequencies on which the future 4G LTE networks in Romania will operate and unfortunately the meeting ended without any results. Orange Romania, RCS & RDS, Cosmote, 2k Telecom and Vodafone participated in the auction, so we will have a 4G network from each operator. You can find more details in the press release below.
After the end of the first day of the spectrum auction, it is necessary to continue the organization of primary rounds
On the first day of the spectrum auction organized for the allocation of frequencies in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600 MHz bands, two primary rounds took place. Given that demand exceeds supply in at least one of the categories, ANCOM will organize a new series of primary rounds tomorrow.
The primary rounds will end after a round in which the demand for blocks no longer exceeds the number of available frequency blocks, for all block categories. After the primary rounds, the auction can continue by organizing additional rounds if there are unallocated frequency blocks after the primary rounds and will end with the allocation round in which operators can bid for the desired spot in the band.
The operators participating in the auction are 2K Telecom, Cosmote Romanian Mobile Telecommunications, Orange Romania, RCS & RDS and Vodafone Romania.
ANCOM is auctioning the rights to use frequencies in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600 MHz bands for the provision of mobile communications services - voice and data - for a period of 15 years. It is the first time in Romania that spectrum licenses are granted through a competitive selection procedure.
During the procedure, operators can bid for two types of licenses: long-term (15 years, valid until April 2029) and short-term (1 year and three months, valid until April 2014). For long-term licenses, ANCOM is auctioning 42 paired blocks of 5 MHz each, of which 6 are in the 800 MHz band, 7 in the 900 MHz band, 15 in the 1800 MHz band and 14 in the 2600 MHz band, as well as 3 unpaired blocks of 15 MHz each in the 2600 MHz band. These licenses will be granted starting from April 6, 2014. For short-term licensing, ANCOM is auctioning 10 paired blocks of 2,5 MHz in the 900 MHz band and 6 paired blocks of 5 MHz in the 1800 MHz band, resources which are currently mostly used by Orange and Vodafone.
The starting price for each block in the four lanes was established by a Government decision. Thus, each block allocated for 15 years in the 800 MHz band will have a minimum price of 35 million euros, those in the 900 MHz band 40 million euros, respectively 10 million euros per block in the 1800 MHz band and 4 million per even block and 3 million per unpaired block in the 2600 MHz band. For the blocks that will be allocated for periods of 15 months, the values were set at 1,7 million euros in the 900 MHz band and 0,8 million in the 1800 MHz band.
