Today, ANC has published, on its website, the draft Terms of Reference for the comparative selection procedure in view of granting the two licences for the use of the radio frequencies that enable the provision of communications services by means of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA), WiMAX systems.
The draft Terms of Reference specify the technical issues envisaged in granting these licences, as well as the conditions the participants must fulfil in order to be considered in the selection procedure. Furthermore, this document establishes the terms for submitting and opening the offers, the documents that must accompany the offers, as well as the schedule of the licence granting procedure.
”We intend to publish the final version of the Terms of Reference on November 3, 2008, the deadline for submitting the offers being provided for January 5, 2009. If the proposed schedule comes into force, the winners of the two licences that enable the provision of WiMAX services in Romania will be designated on January 28, 2009”, the ANC President, Mr. Liviu Nistoran, declared.
The terms for taking part in the licence granting procedure provide that the tenderers or their group of companies should not hold a licence for the use of radio frequencies within the 3400-3600 MHz range, by which they have been granted the right to use frequency sub-bands that reach or exceed a cumulated bandwidth of 2×28 MHz. This requirement has been imposed with a view to promoting real and effective competition in Romania, for the purpose of preventing two or several companies within one group from holding licences that would allow them to provide similar services, which could drive to the inefficient use of the radio spectrum.
The offers will be assessed based on the following criteria: financial capacity (turnover and profit for 2005, 2006, 2007, debt level for 2007 and investments made during 2005 – 2007), commercial feasibility (marketing plan, commercial launch term, net present value, internal rate of return, rate of return on investment and profitability index), specialisation and experience (uninterrupted experience in operating public electronic communications networks, cumulated turnover from the provision of electronic communications services for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007, specialisation in the installation and operation of public electronic communications networks on physical support – wire or fibre optic, in the installation and operation of public electronic communications networks on radio support and in the production and commercialisation of radio equipment), technical feasibility (number of base stations installed and in operation during stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3) and coverage (number of municipalities and number of cities covered during the three stages).
The timeframes of the three stages scheduled for network deployment are 1st of September 2010, 1st of March 2012 and 1st of September 2013. The coverage of the provided services will have to include, at the end of the three stages, at least 50 municipalities and at least 20 cities.
The licence fee is provided in the Government Decision no.638/2008, i.e. EUR7.5 million.
The draft Terms of Reference is available on the ANC website. The interested persons are invited to send their comments and suggestions to the ANC headquarters (2 Delea Noua Street, sector 3, Bucharest) or directly to the ANC registration office, as well as to its territorial branches in the closest county capital city, no later than 28.10.2008. Comments may be sent, as well, by fax, to +40 21 307 54 02, or by e-mail to consultare@anrcti.ro.