Romania's communications authority ANCOM has opened the bidding for band widths for mobile phone companies. The bid opened yesterday ( July 2 ) and any companies interested have until August 13 to submit an offer. Following the closure of the first stage, ANCOM will announce the bids that have successfully reached the second stage on August 20. The final auction will start on September 10.  The length of the bidding will be determined by the number of rounds necessary to choose the final winners, but ANCOM estimates that the final results will be announced in October.

The auction will cover all frequency spectra used by mobile communications and, in some cases, will sell off rights lasting until 2029. Candidates have a number of conditions to fulfill to be considered for the bid. All taxes must be in order, the candidate must be able to show at least EUR 10 million in turnover in the last three years, as well as not being involved in any insolvency procedures. Candidates cannot be part of the same group as another candidate in the bid.

ANCOM will award long term licenses (15 years, valid until April 2029) and short-term licenses (one year and three months, valid until April 2014). For long term licenses, ANCOM will auction 42 blocks of 5 MHz pairs, of which 6 are in the 800 MHz band, 7 in 900 MHz, 15 in the 1800 MHz band and 14 in the 2600 MHz band. Also available are 3 blocks of 15 MHz unpaired in the 2600 MHz band. These licenses will be granted with effect from 6 April 2014. For short-term licenses, ANCOM will auction 10 blocks of 2.5 MHz pairs in the 900 MHz bandwidth and 6 blocks of 5 MHz pairs in the 1800 MHz band, currently used by Orange and Vodafone.

The starting prices were already established by a Government decision. Blocks valid for 15 years in the 800 MHZ band will have a minimum price of EUR 35 million, those in the 900 MHz band start at EUR 40 million, EUR 10 million per block in the 1800 MHz band and EUR 4 million and EUR 3 million per block pair and unpaired block in the 2600 MHz band. For short term licenses, starting values were set at EUR 1.7 million in 900 MHz band and EUR 0.8 million in the 1800 MHz band.

The cost for participating in the auction was set at RON 4,500 ( around EUR 1,000 ) and relevant documents were published on the ANCOM site.

Liam Lever, liam@romania-insider.com