The trouble with tenders
The race for the GSM 1800 and UMTS frequency band tenders was officially started by the Office of Telecommunications and Post Regulations (URTiP) president, Witold Graboś, last week. Offers may be submitted until April 12, and by May 9 a decision will be made regarding the winner (or the winners) of the tender.
Few changes have been introduced to the conditions of the tender in comparison to the original project published in January. Most important are the lowering of the yearly frequency fees (to zł.3.96 million for GSM 1800 and zł.1.05million for UMTS) and a slight increase in the importance of market competition as one of the tendering criteria.
The price offered by the entities and their predictable impact on competition in the mobile market are the two most important criteria, which, according to the regulator, must be treated equally: "One cannot be preferred at the expense of the other." In taking this stance, URTiP has rejected the claims of both the existing operators, who declared that price should be given priority over competition, and potential ones, who wished to see competition as the chief criterion.
Perhaps the most controversial point of contention is the 'local roaming'-or permission for one operator to use the infrastructure of another. Some of the entities interested in the tender declared during the public consultation period that without local roaming, any new operator would face overwhelming difficulties.
Existing operators are united in their opposition against such allowances, claiming that the goal of the tender should be the division of frequencies, not creating conditions for a new operator to enter the market. The decision regarding the problem of local roaming will be made in the last quarter of this year after the competition level of the market is examined and estimated.
"I cannot make any declarations concerning this matter until a legitimate decision enforcing local roaming is made and comes into force. If I made such a declaration, I would lay ground for complaints and legal claims," Graboś said.
Few changes have been introduced to the conditions of the tender in comparison to the original project published in January. Most important are the lowering of the yearly frequency fees (to zł.3.96 million for GSM 1800 and zł.1.05million for UMTS) and a slight increase in the importance of market competition as one of the tendering criteria.
The price offered by the entities and their predictable impact on competition in the mobile market are the two most important criteria, which, according to the regulator, must be treated equally: "One cannot be preferred at the expense of the other." In taking this stance, URTiP has rejected the claims of both the existing operators, who declared that price should be given priority over competition, and potential ones, who wished to see competition as the chief criterion.
Perhaps the most controversial point of contention is the 'local roaming'-or permission for one operator to use the infrastructure of another. Some of the entities interested in the tender declared during the public consultation period that without local roaming, any new operator would face overwhelming difficulties.
Existing operators are united in their opposition against such allowances, claiming that the goal of the tender should be the division of frequencies, not creating conditions for a new operator to enter the market. The decision regarding the problem of local roaming will be made in the last quarter of this year after the competition level of the market is examined and estimated.
"I cannot make any declarations concerning this matter until a legitimate decision enforcing local roaming is made and comes into force. If I made such a declaration, I would lay ground for complaints and legal claims," Graboś said.
