AMMAN - A public tender to grant the first Third Generation (3G) frequencies licence will be floated mid-December and competition will be open to incumbent operators and other companies in the sector, the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) announced Wednesday.
The deadline for submitting bids is January 27, 2009 and the winning candidate will be announced during the same week, TRC Chief Commissioner and CEO Ahmad Hiyasat said at a press conference yesterday.
If referred as scheduled, people across the country will have access to 3G services, including traditional voice, SMS and MMS as well as new advanced services, including hi-speed mobile data and Internet access and video telephony in the year 2010.
According to Hiyasat, the service will be available in the Kingdom within one year of the granting of the licence.
"TRC will impose roll-out obligations on the licensees to secure the provision of services in at least the capital cities of each governorate in the Kingdom within a reasonable timescale. During the first year, the winning bidder is required to make available the services in certain allocated areas, such as west Amman; then the coverage will expand by the second and third years to cover most of the governorates," Hiyasat told reporters.
The TRC chief, who stressed that the single 3G spectrum licence will be offered for current licensees or new entrants and one winner will be determined, said 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 does not include evacuation charges and annual returns. The bidders are free to obtain 10, 15 or 20 paired MHz.
Hiyasat said the TRC strongly believes that offering the tender is the most appropriate method to determine the market value of the spectrum and granting the 3G licence.
No party will be denied the opportunity to participate in the public tender to acquire the first 3G spectrum licence, said Hiyasat, adding that 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. Immediately following the separation period, there will be a "reserve period" of 3 months, during which the TRC will commence proceedings in a way it deems fit if the reserved spectrum has not been made use of by the incumbents, the TRC statement indicated.
The winner of the tender or the incumbent operators can acquire the 2G spectrum licence separately from the tender against an acquisition fee which equates to 130 per cent of the winning price of the tender. Therefore, the minimum fees to grant the 2G spectrum is JD32.5 million for a pair of 5 MHz.
Meanwhile, Hiyasat ruled out the possibility that the current global financial crisis would affect the bids the TRC will receive for the licence.
"Investors in the telecommunication sector look for long-term investments for more than 10 years and the licence is a good example of that... for companies who have cash this is a good investment opportunity to seize," he said at the press conference.
On the other hand, TRC will request from the Cabinet to grant the companies that acquire 3G frequencies and any new company that acquires 2G frequencies an exemption from custom duties for a period of four years in the same way that was granted to mobile telecommunication companies previously, the TRC statement indicated.
By Mohammad Ghazal
© Jordan Times 2008
