Mobile operators ready to launch 4G service

The number of mobile subscribers with 3G access almost doubled to 1.2 million in 2013 after a third operator made the service available.
TIRANA, Sept. 1 – Albania’s Electronic and Postal Communications Authority says it has finalized a public consultation that will pave the way to the launch of the fourth generation of mobile service known as 4G LTE coverage. Under a decision made last August, the electronic communications authority, AKEP, says it will award licences on 1800 MHz frequency band for the GSM/LTE/UMTS/WiMAX, enabling the launch of the 4G technology.
Currently, three out of four mobile companies operating in Albania, offer the 3G service enabling faster mobile internet access.
Vodafone Albania won the first 15-year licence after offering 31.4 million euros in November 2010. The second licence was awarded to AMC, now part of Deutsche Telekom, in October 2011 for 15.1 million euros and the third 3G licence in late 2012 went to Turkey’s Eagle Mobile for Euro 4 million.
Plus Communication, which is the smallest and only Albanian-owned operator, has been continuously concerned over delayed procedures by the electronic communications regulator in the award of the fourth 3G licence as the only operator without the 3G service.
A recent report prepared by Cullen International for the European Commission says the Albanian mobile market has undergone rapid growth fuelled by competition among four mobile network operators. The deployment of mobile broadband, however, has been hampered by the late introduction of 3G services and further regulatory measures are required to complete refarming of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrum for 3G and 4G mobile broadband services, says the report.
Mobile companies’ revenues suffered a double digit shrink in 2013 fuelled by ongoing slowdown in mobile tariffs which the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority says have now dropped to EU and regional countries levels.
An annual report issued by AKEP shows that after a recovery in 2012, mobile companies posted 37 billion lek (Euro 261 million) in revenues, a 12 percent decline compared to 2012, suffering their lowest level since a decade ago when only two mobile companies operated in Albania.
The number of active mobile users, defined as those that have made or received at least a call or SMS in the last three months, rose to 3.7 million in 2013, up from 3.5 million in 2012, with a penetration rate of 130 percent says the Electronic and Postal Communications Authority in its annual report. The number of mobile subscribers with 3G access almost doubled to 1.2 million in 2013 after a third operator made the service available.
“Mobile phone rates continued their downward trend even in 2013, dropping by 35 percent for medium user baskets and by 28 percent for the high usage basket, standing at the average rate of EU and regional countries,” says AKEP.