Four operators submit bids for last two 3G licences

Four companies have submitted bids to the General Inspectorate for Communications and Information Technology (IGCTI) for the last two 3G mobile telephony licences that are up for auction. Originally, there had been five companies that had acquired the necessary documentation to participate in the auction. The companies competing for the available 3G licences are Telemobil (Zapp), Cosmote Mobile Telecommunications, The National Radio-communications Company (SNR) and the RCS&RDS group, while Combridge SRL, based in Sfantu Gheorghe, which provides telecom services under the EuFonika brand, has withdrawn. Combridge is owned by the Magyar Telecom operator, which is in turn controlled by Deutsche Telekom, the biggest telecom group in Europe. “In 2004, at the first 3G auction, only two companies bid for four 3G licences due to the restrictive conditions of participation then imposed. Today, the situation has reversed: for two licences, we have four bidders,” stated Catalin Marinescu, chairman of IGCTI.