The Romanian National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) will organize a bid by the end of 2013 to sell the entire frequency spectrum for the 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands, which now partially belong to telecom operators Orange, Vodafone and Cosmote. It will also expand the usage rights for Orange and Vodafone within these bands, until new licenses are awarded. Orange Romania and Vodafone Romania bought the mobile communication licenses for the 890-915 MHz and 935-960 MHz bands at the end of 1996. Their licenses expire at the end of this year. Each of the two operators paid USD 75 million for their license. Cosmote's rights on these bands expire in 2014, which is when the new licenses will come into effect. Cosmote bought the rights to use the 1,710-1,785 MHz/1,805-1,880 MHz frequencies in 1998, valid for 15 years, for some USD 53 million.

Meanwhile, telecom companies Orange and Vodafone will have to free a portion of the 900 MHz band by the end of 2012, but this would not affect the continuity of their services within that band, the Romanian authority has decided. The freed up band widths will be up for sale in 2012. The measure came after an analysis showed that Romanian telecom company RCS & RDS is in a competitive disadvantage compared to the operators who have a spectrum in the 900 MHz band, according to the local authority.

“Considering that the new telecom package has not been mirrored in Romanian legislation and that failure to adopt this decision this year raises questions about the continuous mobile communication services for 16 million users, ANCOM proposes a 10-day deadline for observations and recommendations,” the authority has said.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: photoxpress.com)