The five operators acquired 85% of the available spectrum, the watchdog said. ANCOM auctioned off frequency blocks totaling 575 MHz, at a starting price of EUR726.8 million.
Vodafone Romania will pay EUR228.52 million, Orange Romania will pay EUR227.14 million, Cosmote Romania will pay EUR179.88 million, RCS&RDS will pay EUR40 million and 2K Telecom will pay EUR6.6 million.
Following the auction, Cosmote Romania was awarded a frequency block in the 800 MHz band, two blocks in the 900 MHz band, five blocks in the 1.800 MHz band and two blocks in the 2.600 MHz band, valid between 2014 and 2029.
Orange Romania was awarded two blocks in the 800 MHz band, two blocks in the 900 MHz band, four blocks in the 1.800 MHz band and four blocks in the 2.600 MHz band, valid between 2014 and 2029. Orange Romania also won short-term licenses, namely five blocks in the 900 MHz band and three blocks in the 1.800 MHz band, valid between January 1, 2013 and April 5, 2014.
Vodafone Romania was awarded two blocks in the 800 MHz band, two blocks in the 900 MHz band, six blocks in the 1.800 MHz band and a 15 MHz block in the 2.600 MHz band, valid between 2014 and 2029. Vodafone Romania has also won short-term licenses, namely five blocks in the 900 MHz band and three blocks in the 1.800 MHz band, valid between January 1, 2013 and April 5, 2014.
RCS&RDS was assigned a block in the 900 MHz band, valid between 2014 and 2029, and 2K Telecom won two 15 MHz blocks in the 2.600 MHz band, valid between 2014 and 2029.
The auction to award mobile telephony licenses set off Monday, September 10, with two primary rounds and, as bids exceeded available blocks in at least one of the four bands, ANCOM said it would organize new primary rounds the following day. On Tuesday, bids no longer exceeded the number of available blocks in any of the four frequency bands and ANCOM announced the auction will continue with an additional round Friday, September 14, for the frequency blocks that have not been awarded. The auction was resumed Monday, September 17, with a second additional round for the unassigned frequency blocks.
According to ANCOM, the second additional round held on September 17 decided winning bids for the unassigned blocks and the price winners will pay for the frequency blocks they won. The authority did not disclose the winners’ names.
ANCOM auctioned off 42 mobile telephony licenses valid from April 6, 2014 until 2029: six in the 800 MHz band, seven in the 900 MHz band, 15 in the 1,800 MHz band and 14 in the 2,600 MHz band, as well as three unpaired 15 MHz blocks in the 2,600 MHz band. The bids of the five abovementioned operators were filed on August 14 and validated by ANCOM six days later.
In 2011, Orange Romania reported a 4.3% decrease in turnover, to 3.98 billion lei (EUR880 million) and a 13.7% decline in its net profit to RON805.6 million.
Vodafone Romania reported a 2.3% decrease in turnover to RON3.39 billion and a 0.2% increase in net profit to RON487.7 million on the year in 2011.
Cosmote Romania, the local division of Greek group Cosmote, held by OTE (Greece), reported a turnover of RON1.94 billion in 2011, up 8.9% on the year, and net profit of RON30.8 million, down 78.3% on the year.
In 2011, RCS&RDS reported a 15.3% increase in turnover, to RON2.03 billion and switched to net profit of RON12.5 million, from loss of RON70.3 million in 2010.
Founded in 2000, 2K Telecom became member of Asesoft group in 2005. The company reported a turnover of RON59.9 million in 2011, compared to RON46.4 million in 2010.
According to ANCOM data, the local telecom market amounted to EUR3.5 billion in 2011. (EUR1=RON4.5176)