ANCOM has issued new licenses for Vodafone Romania, Digi Romania and Telekom Romania Mobile Communications, after their receiving the Authority’s prior consent for the assignment and lease of frequency usage rights, as well as for the temporary sharing of frequency sub-bands.
The license modification follows the completion of the transaction through which Vodafone Romania S.A. acquires sole control over Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A., and Digi Romania S.A. acquires sole control over some assets of Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A. (part of its towers, infrastructure and equipment) and the entire activity of providing pre-paid mobile telephony services.
The Competition Council authorised the transaction on 25 July 2025 subject to conditions by, and ANCOM assisted the Council in the process of analysing this transaction, to ensure the best results for the market and for users and companies.
ANCOM has modified the licenses of the three operators as a result of the assignment, temporary sharing and lease of spectrum resources, according to the legal provisions, taking into account the agreements concluded between them.
The licenses for the use of frequencies are valid until 5 April 2029 and 31 December 2031.
Assignment of licenses
Telekom Romania Mobile Communications has assigned to Digi Romania the rights of use for the following radio frequency sub-bands it held in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2100 MHz and 2600 MHz bands: 895-900/940-945 MHz, 1770-1785/1865-1880 MHz, 1940-1950 MHz/2130-2140 MHz and 2500-2510/2620-2630 MHz.
Following these license modifications, Telekom Romania Mobile Communications will retain the coverage obligations related to the spectrum remaining in its licenses for the use of frequencies, while Digi Romania will take over the coverage obligations associated with the new holdings of radio spectrum resources.
Temporary spectrum sharing
The temporary sharing of some of the frequency blocks the operators own was approved by ANCOM for a short period (1-2 months), in order to allow for a rearrangement of the rights for the use of radio frequencies in band, so that Vodafone Romania together with Telekom Romania Mobile Communications hold continuous spectrum allocations, in order to increase the technical efficiency of the use of the assigned frequency spectrum resources.
Temporary leasing
In accordance with ANCOM’s legal powers regarding the administration and supervision of the use of frequency resources, in order to guarantee the continuity of services provided to end users, taking into account the need to carry out technical operations inherent to the proper functioning of networks following the assignment of the said radio frequency spectrum blocks (e.g. reconfiguration of network equipment, gradual/zonal implementation, etc.), ANCOM approved the leasing of certain spectrum resources for limited periods. Moreover, ANCOM approved the lease by Digi Romania from Telekom Romania Mobile Communications of the rights of use for 2×2 MHz (893-895 MHz/938-940 MHz) within the 2×5 MHz frequency block that will continue to be held by Telekom in the 900 MHz band, for the period 1 December 2025 – 5 April 2029, based on the Radio Frequency Lease Agreement concluded between the parties.
