Second 3G license to be awarded next September

TIRANA, June 27 – Another mobile operator will offer the 3G service in Albania next autumn. The Electronic and Postal Communications Authority has announced that the auction for the second 3G licence will be held on September 5, when three companies will bid. AMC, Eagle Mobile and Plus Communication will compete for the second 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 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. In November 2010, Vodafone Albania was announced the winner of the first 15-year licence after offering 31.4 million euros. 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 Communication boycotted the first tender in protest of the government’s decision to grant only one 3G license.