Telecom regulator prolongs GSM licenses for Orange and Vodafone until 2014

Newsroom 01/12/2011 | 16:59

The telecom regulator has prolonged the GSM licenses of Orange Romania and Vodafone Romania will be expanded from December 2011 until April 2014.

This is the date when the GSM licenses of Cosmote, the third largest telecom operator in Romania, expires.

“ANCOM intends to organize by the end of 2013 an auction for the entire spectrum that will become available in the bandwidth 900 Mhz and 1,800 Mhz and expand the validity of the usage rights for Orange Romania and Vodafone Romania in these frequencies until new licenses are granted,” goes the press release of the institution.

The licenses for providing GSM communication services in the bandwidth 890-915 MHz and 935-960 MHz were granted at the end of 1996 to dialog and Connex, companies that currently function under the name of Orange Romania and Vodafone Romania. The validity of the licenses was 15 years, with the expiration date being December 31, 2011.

Each of the operators paid the sum of USD 75 million for the GSM licenses.

The GSM licenses in the bandwidth of 890-915 MHz, 935-960 MHz, 1.710-1785 MHz and 1.805-1.880 MHz were granted at the end of 1998 to the company that currently has the name of Cosmote, also with a 15-year validity. The expiration date of the licenses is April 5, 2014.

Cosmote paid USD 53 million for the licenses.
Otilia Haraga