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Assignment Rounds within Spectrum Auction Start on Friday
17.09.2012
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The last additional round of the spectrum auction for allocating the frequencies in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600 MHz bands has been held today. After this round, the generic blocks won by each bidder and the amounts they must pay have been determined. The Commission announces that the seven assignment rounds corresponding to each category of frequencies have been scheduled to take place on Friday, 21 September 2012, and on Monday, 24 September 2012.
The position of each block won in the band will be established in the assignment rounds. The primary rounds and the additional rounds allowed for determining the number of generic blocks the winning bidders acquired in each category, as well as the basic prices for the respective frequency blocks, but not the specific frequencies these bidders are to be assigned. The purpose of the assignment rounds therefore is to determine how the concrete frequencies are to be distributed among the winners, while additional prices are to be paid by each winning bidder for obtaining a specific assignment.
The bidders that have won frequency blocks in the primary and additional rounds will express their options based on a list of pre-defined options provided for by the Commission. Thus, each winning bidder has the possibility to bid the amount that it would be willing to pay for a specific assignment in each band, in addition to the total basic price determined following the primary and/or additional rounds. Winners who are indifferent as regards the assignment options do not have to make any assignment bids. All bidders that have won two or several blocks in the same category will receive adjacent frequency assignments within the respective frequency band.
The combination of valid assignment bids with the highest total value from among all possible combinations is declared a winner. If several combinations of valid assignment bids have equal value, the Commission will choose one of the combinations by draw.
The operators participating in the auction are: 2K Telecom, Cosmote Romanian Mobile Telecommunications, Orange Romania, RCS & RDS and Vodafone Romania.
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Background information
ANCOM auctioned out the rights for the use of the frequencies in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600 MHz bands for the provision of mobile communications services – voice and data – for a 15-year period. It is for the first time in Romania that the spectrum licences are awarded by means of a competitive selection procedure.
As part of the procedure, the bidders may bid for two types of licences: long-term licences (15 years, valid until April 2029) and short-term licences (1 year and three months, valid until April 2014). For the long-term licences, ANCOM auctions out 42 paired blocks of 5 MHz each, 6 of which 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 licences will be awarded starting 6 April 2014. With regard to the licences to be awarded for a shorter period, ANCOM auctions out 10 paired blocks of 2.5 MHz in the 900 MHz band and 6 paired blocks of 5 MHz in the 1800 MHz band, most of these resources being currently used by Orange and Vodafone.
The reserve price for each block in the four bands has been set by Government decision. Thus, the minimum price for each block in the 800 MHz band assigned for 15 years will be EUR 35 million, for the 900 MHz band will be EUR 40 million, respectively EUR 10 million per block in the 1800 MHz band and EUR 4 million per paired block and EUR 3 million per unpaired block in the 2600 MHz band. For those blocks to be assigned for periods of 15 months, the values have been set at EUR 1.7 million in the 900 MHz band and EUR 0.8 million in the 1800 MHz band.
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