Plus Communication called on the authorities to issue the next two licenses in a short a time and in parallel, describing it as a step which would finally liberalize the market and offer more benefits to consumers
TIRANA, Sept. 19 – Plus Communication, the newest and the only Albanian-owned mobile operator on the market, has called on government to issue the next two 3G licenses at the same time.
In a statement after Greek-owned AMC was officially announced the winner of the second 3G license, Plus Communication called on the authorities to issue the next two licenses in a short a time and in parallel, describing it as a step which would finally liberalize the market and offer more benefits to consumers.
Moni Buchnik, the company’s executive director said “the full liberalization of the market is the best solution for customers contributing to a fully competitive market from which consumers will benefit better quality and prices.”
Plus, the only 100 percent Albanian-owned consortium on the telecommunications market launched operations in late 2010. The fourth mobile operator PLUS, a consortium led by Kosovo’s Post-Telecom company (PTK), was awarded the fourth GSM license in an international tender in January 2009 for 7.2 million Euros.
Last weekend, the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority (AKEP) officially announced AMC as the winner of the second 3G license after offering 15.1 million Euros, 2.6 million more than the price tag the government had set. The Albanian Mobile Communications (AMC) outbid Eagle Mobile which offered 12.9 million Euros.
The Innovation and IT Ministry has hinted it will award other licenses saying that “the granting of 3G licenses is a process of successive steps, continuing in time as shown by the experience of other countries which applied the 3G technology earlier.”
Currently four companies, AMC, Vodafone Albania, Eagle Mobile and Plus Communication operate in the Albanian market.
The number of mobile subscribers in 2010 increased by 11 percent to 4.5 million for a population of around 3.5 million, a figure which shows more than 1/3 of subscribers has at least two SIM cards
