Orange and Vodafone in disagreement with the state over license extension fee

Orange and Vodafone’s GSM mobile telephony licenses, which the two companies won in 1996 for 75 million dollars each are set to expire in December 2011, therefore the state and the operators must reach an agreement on the renewal terms.
Although the state’s financing needs will increase, as the “instalments” on the loan taken from the International Monetary Fund alone are set to reach 12 billon euros from 2012 through 2014, the government has to take into account the fact that Dialog (Orange) and Mobifon (Connex) will not pay a similar amount after the expiration of the license, the operators warn.
“As stipulated in the license agreement terms, we have the right to extend its validity. There is no provision about the payment of an extension fee,” Liliana Solomon, CEO of Vodafone Romania told ZF. Moreover even the fee itself is challenged for not having been a “licensing” fee. “We have to say that the fees we paid in the past were not licensing fees but were actually paid for spectrum clearing by the National Defence Ministry and as such, legally speaking, they were a different type of fee,” Solomon adds.
Thierry Millet, CEO of Orange Romania says: “Our licence expires on the 31st of December so that we expect it to be renewed, of course. We would like the license renewal terms to be as clearly defined as possible because it will influence the planning of our investments.”
The Orange and Vodafone’s GSM license extension conditions will be set by the Government and the Communications Regulatory Authority (ANCOM) by yearend, at which time the issue of fee payment will be cleared up, as well.