Friday, July 4, 2008, was the deadline by which the National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology made available the Terms of Reference for the tender organised in view of granting a national licence for the use of radio frequencies for the purpose of providing mobile data networks and electronic communications services within the 410-415/420-425 MHz bands.
10 companies purchased the Terms of Reference, as follows: S.C. Postelecom Network S.R.L., S.C. RCS – RDS S.A., S.C. Romtelecom S.A., S.C. Cobalt IT S.R.L., Tactical Networks AS, S.C. NetPoint S.R.L., DIGI Tavkoslesi Es Szolgaltato Kft., Saudi Oger Ltd. and S.C. Asesoft International S.A.
The deadline for submitting the offers is August 4, 2008, 17:00. The winner of the tender is to be designated on September 8, 2008.
The minimum set of services to be provided by this frequency are: voice services, data transmissions at a minimum download transfer rate of 128 Kb/s and PAMR-specific services (push to talk voice services, simultaneous voice and data services, dispatching services, call prioritization and automatic put on hold, in-group calls and dynamic allocation). Additionally, optional services such as location and data/IP package services, the capability of providing virtual private networks (VPN) and video applications may be offered.
The offers shall be evaluated based on the tenderer’s financial capacity (for example, turnover and profit rate in 2007, 2006, 2005, financial availability for investments in the network roll-out and operation, total amount invested in the network roll-out and operation), commercial feasibility (e.g. marketing plan, date of the commercial launch of all the services in the minimum set), specialisation and experience (e.g. prior operation of public electronic communications networks and provision of electronic communications services).
Other criteria are: technical feasibility (optional services proposed, number of base stations installed) and coverage proposed for the 3 network installation phases (national roads and area to be covered during each of the three phases). The minimum requirements for broadband coverage are: at least 2,500 km national European roads, by December 31, 2013, at least 55% of the Romanian territory, by December 31, 2013 and 100 towns of maximum 50,000 inhabitants, by the same deadline.
A commission consisting of 7 members that cannot be shareholders, associates, administrators, auditors or employees – by labour book or otherwise – of any of the legal entities in the tender or of any legal entity that controls a tenderer will assess the offers, based on the scoring grid. The tender commission elaborated the final version of the Terms of Reference, will elaborate the answers to the requests for clarifications, will evaluate the offers and will present the tender result to the ANRCTI President for approval.
11.07.2008 – UPDATE
Upon confirmation of payment, by bank transfer, of the Terms of Reference for the tender launched in view of granting a national licence for the use of radio frequencies for the purpose of providing mobile data networks and electronic communications services in the 410-415/420-425 MHz bands, one more company, Net-Connect, received the documents, at the ANRCTI headquarters.
Net Connect Internet had made the payment on Friday, 04.07.2008, i.e. within the deadline, but could not be handed the Terms of Reference before the payment confirmation.