Eight companies interested in introduction of CDMA in Serbia

The dossier for open competition for licenses for introduction of fixed wireless telephony CDMA has been bought by eight companies – six Serbian and two foreign companies – people in the Republic Telecommunications Agency said today (April 9, 2009).

The deadline for submission of applications for procurement of the dossier at the price of 50 EUR expired on April 8th, and the companies that bought it can submit the bids and pay the deposit of 10,000 EUR prior to May 15th.

CDMA enables provision of phone services, as well as access to low-quality Internet, and it is suitable for rural areas where telecommunication infrastructure has not been built yet.

According to the ad, licenses will be issued on ten years, and the minimum fee is 500,000 EUR per license.

The bidders can apply for one license and, in case there are more than two bidders who meet the conditions, the auction for licenses will be organized.

According to the plan, Ratel should select the most favorable bids prior to June 8th and to issue the licenses within eight days after the tender winner is declared.

Telecommunication companies and enterprises that intend to deal with telecommunications and pay the deposit or provide the banking guarantee worth 1m EUR can participate in the tender for CDMA licenses for national coverage.

Tender for new fixed telephony operator should be announced in the second half of this year in Serbia, while, according to the information provided by the Ministry of Telecommunications, the introduction of fixed wireless WiMax technology for phone and Internet will be postponed due to the economic crisis.