AMMAN - Several regional and international telecom companies have showed interest in bidding for the government's tender for first Third Generation (3G) frequencies licence.
Information and Communications Technology Minister Bassem Roussan said he was aware that several companies in the sector contacted the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) expressing interest in participating in the tender, to be floated soon by the government.
The TRC delayed floating the tender in mid-December following requests by the mobile operators in the Kingdom.
According to the TRC, the 3G service will be available in the Kingdom within one year from granting the licence.
The reserve price of the spectrum is set at JD25 million for a paired block of the 5 MHz spectrum, which will specify the minimum fees of this band and will not include evacuation charges and annual returns.
The bidders are free to obtain 10, 15 or 20 paired MHz.
No party will be denied the opportunity to participate in the public tender to acquire the first 3G spectrum licence. After achieving the tender process within a 10-month "separation period", the opportunity will be available for the existing operators to obtain the 3G licence.
At the end of the separation period, TRC will offer 10 MHz of the 3G frequency to each of the incumbent operators that did not win the bid.
The acquisition price will be equal to the price of the winning bid of the tender.
By Mohammad Ghazal
© Jordan Times 2009
