Print
Final Round of Public Consultation before Launch of Spectrum Auction
14.06.2012
The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) has convened a meeting of the Consultative Council for the day of 22 June 2012 in order to finalise the public consultation on the documents of the spectrum auction to take place this year with a view to awarding the radio frequency usage rights in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600 MHz bands.
Further to the Consultative Council meeting, the ANCOM decisions on the auctioning procedure and on the tariffs for the use of spectrum will be finalised and sent for publication to the Romanian Official Journal in order to allow for publishing the auction notice and the Terms of Reference on 2 July 2012, at the latest. From this date on, the entities interested in obtaining usage rights for the auctioned frequencies will have six weeks at their disposal to purchase the Terms of Reference and submit their candidatures. The auction commission will examine the submitted qualification documents and will announce within one week the candidates that qualify for the next stage. The auction will start in four weeks after the submission of candidatures. The length of the auction procedure depends on the number of rounds to take place and ANCOM estimates that the final results are to be announced in October.
Two types of licences will be awarded under the auction: 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 will auction 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 will auction 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, resources which are currently used by Orange and Vodafone.
The reserve price for each block in the four bands was set on Wednesday, 13 June, by Government Decision. Hence, each 15 years block in the 800 MHz band will have a minimum price of EUR 35 million, those in the 900 MHz band - 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. The values for the blocks to be allocated for 15 months have been set at EUR 1.7 million in the 900 MHz band and EUR 0.8 million in the 1800 MHz band.
The purchase price for the Terms of Reference was established at RON 4,500. The purchase of the Terms of Reference is a mandatory requirement in view of participation in the auction.
