The Romanian Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications handed, today, the licences for the use of the radio spectrum to the representatives of Cosmote, Orange, RCS&RDS, Vodafone and 2K Telecom, operators who obtained spectrum resources following the auction organised in 2012. The 5 operators received licences for the use of the radio spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands, which are allocated for broadband mobile voice and data transmission services, for the period 6 April 2014 – 5 April 2029.
The licences awarded to the operators reflect the obligations provided in the Terms of Reference regarding service coverage and service quality, as well as the obligation to ensure, by certain deadlines, the coverage with voice services of inhabited areas counting at least 98% of the population of Romania, for the operators who own 2G/3G or 3G networks and acquired spectrum resources in the 800 MHz and/or 900 MHz bands, and respectively 30% of the population for 2K Telecom, which obtained spectrum resources in the 2600 MHz band. Moreover, the operators must ensure the coverage with broadband data services, with a downlink rate of at least 2 Mbps and with a probability of indoor reception of 95%, for inhabited areas counting 60% of the population (respectively 30% for 2K Telecom), within the provided deadlines.
Furthermore, the operators having obtained spectrum resources in the frequency bands under 1 GHz (800 MHz and/or 900 MHz) – Cosmote, Orange, RCS&RDS and Vodafone – have the obligation to ensure priority coverage for a number of localities that are not currently served by broadband communications networks. Therefore, 676 such rural localities will benefit from broadband data services with a downlink transfer rate of at least 384 kbps, by 5 April 2016. As well, through these licences, the operators are bound to limit network unavailability to maximum 35 minutes within a 6-month period.
Each holder of the licences granted by ANCOM has the obligation to conclude national roaming agreements for the provision of access to the unique number for emergency calls – 112 – with the other holders of licences for the use of radio spectrum, so that the calls to 112 could be performed despite the user’s location outside the coverage of the subscription network. Moreover, the holders must conclude agreements for periods of up to three years, in case of the requests of operators with radio access networks covering 30% of the population, thus enabling, on temporary bases, the provision of electronic communications services in the geographical areas outside the coverage of the radio access network of the national roaming requester.
Three of the operators who received licences for the use of radio spectrum from ANCOM, Cosmote, RCS&RDS and 2K Telecom, undertook to host mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), while charging reasonable and proportionate tariffs for the provided services. For the first request for concluding an MVNO access network, of a certain type, the maximum negotiation term will be of 6 months. Furthermore, the licence holders will ensure the implementation of the MVNO access contract, so that the provision of electronic communications services could start within 4 months from the date of concluding the agreement.
Additional information
In the second half of 2012, ANCOM organised the auction by which it granted the rights of use of the radio spectrum in the 800, 900, 1800 and 2600 MHz bands for the provision of mobile communications services – voice and data, up to 2029. For the first time in Romania, the spectrum licences were granted by a competitive selection procedure. The starting price for each block of the four bands was established by Government Decision, the licence fees resulted following the auction amounting to EUR 682,136,036.