Three mobile companies, AMC, Eagle Mobile and Plus Communications will compete for the licence whose initial price tag has been set at 12.5 million Euros
TIRANA, June 8 – Seven months after granting the first 3G licence to Vodafone Albania, the government says it will award a second licence in an effort to increase competition and end the current monopoly Vodafone has. Minister of Innovation and IT, Genc Pollo, announced on Wednesday that he has authorized the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) to open the race for another 3G licence for the remaining mobile operators. Three mobile companies, AMC, Eagle Mobile and Plus Communication will compete for the licence whose initial price tag has been set at 12.5 million Euros, the same as in the previous tender. The legal and technical terms are also the same as those in the previous tender, in which Vodafone Albania was announced the winner after offering 31.4 million Euros. The tender will open in the coming days and will be managed by AKEP. The Ministry of Innovation says the granting of a second 3G licence is another step forward in the Digital Albania project, enabling faster data transmission and internet speed. Speaking at Wednesday’s government meeting, Prime Minister Berisha said the granting of another 3G licence would increase competition and lower prices of the service. Praising relations with mobile companies, Berisha reiterated his call for lower SMS tariffs. The Ministry hinted it will award other licenses saying that “the granting of 3G licences is a process of successive steps, continuing in time as shown by the experience of other countries which applied the 3G technology earlier.” In September 2010, the four mobile phone companies asked the government to issue four licences instead of one and at a cheaper price than the initial 12.5 million Euros, saying it would avoid the creation of a monopoly. The Competition Authority warned earlier that the granting of a single 3G licence in November 2010 had limited competition among mobile operators, and asked the government to take immediate measures to liberalize the 3G mobile phone market. In some recommendations made to the Ministry of Innovation and IT, the Competition Authority described the granting of a single 3G licence as a violation of the competition protection law and abuse of dominant position despite the fact that it may be temporary. “These licences could be granted at the same time so that free and efficient competition on the 3G service is enhanced. The terms of granting these licences should be the same to those determined in the first awarded licence,” recommended the Competition Commission in its recent decision after examining the information and procedures followed in the 3G tender held on November 8, 2010, when Vodafone Albania was announced the winner of the 15-year licence. Vodafone’s only competitor in the race was Turkish-owned Eagle Mobile which offered 12.6 million Euros. First mobile operator AMC and newly launched Plus Communications boycotted the tender in sign of protest against the government’s decision to grant only one licence. According to the Authority, the launch of 3G– which refers to the third generation of mobile telephone technology– is necessary to the further development of information technology and wireless internet in Albania. Albania became the last country in the Balkans to issue permits for 3G technology, which enables faster internet services, including video calls, on mobile phones.
