3G in Romania no sooner than 2004

The third mobile telephony generation will become operational in Romania early in 2004 at best, Thomas Lundin, Ericsson Romania chairman, said on Wednesday.

However, this deadline stands only if the Government decides to auctioneer UMTS licences this year, as any delay results in a six-month postponement of the launch date, at least.

In the event that the international telecommunications market improved, Romania in Q3 this year could put up for sale four third-generation (3G) mobile telephony licences, minister of Information Technology and Communications Dan Nica told the “On Air 3G Tour Transcontinental” seminar on Wednesday.

The costs for a national 3G network amount to more than $500 million, licence purchase costs not included, Thomas Lundin feels.

“Given that Romania will have four 3G communications licences, we estimate that 60% of the total costs required for building the infrastructure of the four networks will fall upon Ericsson,” the chairman of Ericsson Romania told Mediafax.

The company in Bucharest on Wednesday demonstrated the capabilities of the 3G technology within the “3G-ON AIR Show Tour Transcontinental.”

This tour to travel through nearly 50 countries is intended to educate the business people and the future consumers towards the huge potential of the next mobile telephony generation.

“3G will make us embrace a new life style. Communication will no longer mean just talking, but data and image transfer and businesses run over the mobile phone,” Ericsson Romania chairman said.

Romania is not ready for 3G yet, according to Lundin, as there are a number of setbacks, with the most important of them including the low number of Internet users and the IT “skills” fleeing the country.

At the same time, 3G cannot become operational in the absence of IT laws and of a significant number of IT applications available on the market.

“The implementation of the 3G telephony in Romania is not an issue to push, because insufficient preparation may result in failure. 3G is capital because, among others, it is a vector that pushes economy up,” Thomas Lundin added.

He said that whereas the transition from the first mobile telephony generation to the second one in Romania took about one year to complete (1996-1997), the transition to 3G through 2 1/2 G was a more complicated thing to do.

Poland is the most advanced of all the CEE countries in this respect, with Romania, Hungary and Russia competing for the second place.

The third mobile telephony generation is the result of the “alliance” of the Internet, the mobile telephony and commerce, which provides the consumer with enhanced mobility, with multiple opportunities therefrom derived.