28 November 2013
28.11.2013
The Romanian Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) launched for public consultation, today, the draft decision and the Terms of Reference of the organisation of a tender with a view to granting the licences for the use of radio frequencies in the Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial system. ANCOM proposes that the five digital television multiplexes should be awarded by a competitive selection procedure.
ANCOM will launch for tender five terrestrial digital television multiplexes, four in UHF and one in VHF, in the DVB-T2 standard. A digital multiplex is a group of radio broadcasting and television programmes, additional multimedia services and other associated identification data transmitted from the emission stations to the end-users by terrestrial radio means, using digital modulation within the limits of a standard television channel/frequency block.
The winner of the first multiplex in UHF (MUX 1) will have the obligation to broadcast free to air, under transparent, competitive and non-discriminatory conditions, the public and private television stations that are currently broadcast in terrestrial analogue system, in accordance with the provisions of the Audiovisual Law. Moreover, according to the Strategy elaborated by the Ministry of Information Society, this multiplex will have to ensure a coverage, in fixed reception, of 90% of the population and of 80% of the territory by 31 December 2016, as the only multiplex out of the 5 available, bearing such coverage obligations. For MUX 2, MUX 3, MUX 4 and MUX 5, the operators will have the obligation to launch in operation – by 1 May 2017 – at least 36 emission stations for each of the networks corresponding to these multiplexes, installed one in each allocation area. All the multiplexes will be granted for a 10-year period, while the licences will enter into force starting from 17 June 2015.
The competitive selection procedure requires that each bidder submits an initial offer by which it indicates the number of multiplexes it intends to purchase. Where the request exceeds the number of multiplexes available, primary rounds will be organised until the demand does no longer exceed offer. Where, after the closing of the primary rounds, no bidder won some of the multiplexes, ANCOM may decide to organise an additional primary round to which all the bidders qualified in the tender stage may participate, in order to award the remaining multiplexes. Moreover, the multiplexes MUX2, MUX3 and MUX4 will be allocated to the winners, following the initial offer or the additional rounds, as applicable, by means of an allocation round. The starting price for each multiplex is the minimum licence fee to be established by the Government, upon ANCOM’s proposal.
In order to qualify for the tender stage, a bidder must fulfil all of the qualification criteria, such as: it should be a Romanian or foreign company; the average turnover for the last 3 years or for the period from since its establishment, if the company is younger than three years, should be at least EUR 2,000,000; the bidder’s operation period provided in the articles of incorporation should be at least until 17 June 2025; the bidder must prove the accomplishment of its payment obligations to the state budget, to the social insurance budget and to the special funds of taxes, dues, contributions and other revenues, as well as to ANCOM; the bidder should not be part of another bidder’s group.
“Digital terrestrial television is an alternative for the Romanian users and comes in completion of the service range currently available to them. In Romania, there is a competitive market of audiovisual programme retransmission, where each service type features costs and benefits, advantages and disadvantages. The point is that the users should have sufficient options available so they could choose the offer that best matches their expectations”, declared Cătălin Marinescu, the ANCOM president.
The tender documentation is available for consultation, in Romanian, here. The interested persons are invited to send their comments and suggestions to the ANCOM headquarters (2 Delea Noua Street, Bucharest 3), directly to the ANCOM Registry Office or by the ANCOM regional divisions, by 08.01.2014. Comments may also be sent by fax to +40 372 845 402 or by e-mail to:consultare@ancom.org.ro.
