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Second Additional Bid Round in the spectrum auction on Monday, 17 September
14.09.2012
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At the end of the first additional round of the spectrum auction held for allocating the frequencies in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600 MHz bands, the Commission announces that a new additional round is scheduled to take place on Monday, 17 September 2012, in order to allot the frequency blocks which remained unassigned after the four bidding rounds held so far.
All bidders are allowed to participate in the additional rounds, regardless of whether they acquired or not frequency blocks during the primary rounds. The limitations on acquiring the usage rights will however apply.
In each of these rounds, the bidders may bid for one or several packages comprising one or several unassigned blocks, indicating the sum they are willing to pay for such a package, with certain limitations. Each package represents itself a bid. For each package, the bid will specify the number of blocks in each category the bidder wishes to acquire, as well as the total package price.
In the second additional round, the bid price may not be lower than the reserve prices (the minimum licence fee) for the blocks included in the bid.
At the end of each additional round, the Commission will establish the winning combination, which is the combination of packages included in the valid bids submitted during the additional round that, taken together, have the higher value among all possible combinations and meets the following conditions: in each category have not been granted more blocks than the number of available blocks in the respective category; the combination contains no more than one package from each bidder; the combination ensures the assignment of the largest number of blocks from among those available in all categories.
The winning bids for the unassigned blocks, the winning bidders and the amounts they must pay will be determined following the additional rounds.
The auction will end with the assignment round, when the operators may bid for the desired positioning in the band.
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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