Five companies enroll for new digital terrestrial television tender

Five contenders- 2K Telecom, Radio M Plus, Regal, Cargo Sped and Digital Video Broadcast, have submitted their applications to take part in the second procedure for allocating the digital terrestrial television multiplexes, according to a press release of the Romanian telecom authority ANCOM.

In this second tender, the Romanian telecom watchdog will take out for sale on the market two national multiplexes, 40 regional and 19 local ones.

On January 20, 2015, the auction committee will analyze the candidates’ files and decide who is eligible.

By the end of the month, ANCOM will announce the winners of the first round and if it is necessary to organize a second round.

The competitive selection procedure for allocating the multiplexes stipulates that each of the participants must submit an initial offer, mentioning the categories and number of multiplexes they wish to acquire.

If the demand exceeds the offer, the tender will go on with a new round. For the categories where the demand is lower, the winners are decided in the first round.

After the winners and the prices for each of the multiplexes are decided, the tender will go on with a new allocation round in which the multiplexes will be allocated based on the supplementary payments they are willing to pay to obtain certain frequencies.

The multiplexes are granted for ten years and winners can provide TV broadcasting services starting June 17, 2015.

Until May 1, 2017, the winners of the two national multiplexes should set in place at least 36 transmitters, while the winners of the local and regional multiplexes should set at least one transmitter in each area.

The minimum license tax, which represents the starting price in the bidding for the two national multiplexes, is EUR 300,000.

Regional and local multiplexes start from EUR 12,000 for a regional multiplex for Bucharest and EUR 1,000 for a multiplex allocated for a locality that is not a county residence.

In 2006, Romania committed, along with another 102 countries from Europe, Africa and Asia, to switch from analog cable to digital terrestrial television before June 17, 2015. Romania will be among the last European countries to make this transition.

The strategy for the digital switchover and the national implementation of digital multimedia services was approved by the Romanian government on June 19, 2013.

Following the first tender, which took place on June 10, the National Radiocommunication Company (SNR) won three multiplexes for EUR 1,020,002, representing the license tax, as announced by the national telecom watchdog ANCOM.

RCS&RDS and SNR were the two candidates in the tender.

Otilia Haraga

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