“After winning radio frequencies in the auction held last year, Cosmote, Orange, RCS&RDS, Vodafone and 2K Telecom have to pay EUR477,996,012 until June 30, 2013,” Catalin Marinescu, chairman of the communications industry watchdog, ANCOM, told ZF.
Cosmote, Orange, RCS&RDS and Vodafone already paid EUR204 million last year.
Vodafone, Orange and Cosmote will pay the highest amount, as they are the top three mobile communications providers in Romania. They got frequency licenses in last year’s auction, valid until 2029, some of which compatible with the 4G technologies.
The government did not allocate what it collected from last year’s telecom auction, the biggest such event in Romania’s history to IT&C projects but to payment of public sector employees and the purchase of F-16 planes for the country’s military.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)