Romanian Telecom Ops To Supply 3G Services On GSM Frequencies

"The Consultative Council of Romanian communications regulator ANCOM adopted a decision in this respect and, after the decision is published in the Official Journal, the three operators will be able to supply 3G services through the GSM networks. The decision will result in better penetration of 3G services among users, with an impact on competition and, implicitly, on the fees applied," ANCOM president Catalin Marinescu said Tuesday.

The local operators holding 3G licenses are Orange, Vodafone, Cosmote and RCS&RDS. However, RCS&RDS is not active on the GSM/2G segment.

The ANCOM decision comes following a directive enacted by the European Commission in fall 2009.

The 2G licenses held by Orange and Vodafone in Romania expire in 2011, and the one held by Cosmote expires in 2014.

The first two companies paid $75 million each for the 2G license, while Cosmote paid $53 million in two installments, according to data presented by Marinescu.

ANCOM is the institution that establishes the rules for the communications market in Romania and oversees the observance of these rules.

Mobile telephony operators in Romania currently serve 26 million clients.

If you liked this story, please follow MEDIAFAX.RO on FACEBOOK »

The content of mediafax.ro is for your information only. Republishing or using this content is forbidden without express consent of MEDIAFAX. For this consent, please ask for it by mail at vanzari@mediafax.ro.