Same old faces. Kyivstar, MTS and life:) to bid for 3G

The National Communications Regulatory Commission of Ukraine has completed acceptance of preliminary bids for radio frequencies for the introduction of 3G (UMTS) technology.

Following 3Mob

Three companies submitted their bids, according to the official website of the regulator. Capital learned that these are the major players of GSM communications – Kyivstar, MTS Ukraine and Astelit (life:)). There are no additional bidders, such as foreign operators or local operators using different technologies. As a reminder, NCRCU began studying the demand for frequencies at the end of May. Overall, 90 MHz within the range of 2GHz have been put up on tender. 3Mob (Ukrtelecom’s daughter), which received its license back in 2005 and has since been the sole UMTS operator, uses 30 MHz within this range.

Demand did not exceed supply

MTS and Astelit informed that they submitted the bids for 30 MHz each. Kyivstar decided not to disclose the size of the frequency band for which it submitted its bid. Director of Regulatory and Legal Provision at Kyivstar Andriy Osadchuk only specified that the volume of the announced band is sufficient for providing the new form of communication to subscribers. A source in the know told Capital it is unlikely that the market leader will aim for a larger volume of frequency band than its competitors since the company has already concentrated licenses for over 50% of the range for GSM technology. The operator will have to pay over UAH 600 mn per year for its use. Therefore, the demand of operators for 3G frequencies did not exceed supply.
Ukrainians will still have to wait for 4G technology. “In the future, as the demand for data transfer services develops, it will be possible to use the vacant frequency resource within the 900 and 1800 ranges for launching LTE,” says Chief of the PR Department at MTS Ukraine Viktoria Ruban. Kyivstar is a proponent of the sooner use of the 2G range, which it has in abundance, including for 4G. Meanwhile, it will not be easy for the operators to quickly benefit from 4G, as at the moment there are few devices in Ukraine that support this technology.

Operators will economize

At the meeting on Tuesday the NCRCU also approved the draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, envisaging funding for the transfer of means of communications of the military to alternative ranges and issuing 3G licenses as soon as the exact amount and conditions of this conversion becomes available. As Capital wrote earlier, the officials expect the tender will be held at the beginning of this autumn.

Meanwhile, the operators are not ready to pay for the frequencies. Osadchuk believes that the starting price of the license should not exceed UAH 200 mn. As a reminder, in 2009 the regulator wanted to put up for tender four licenses at the starting price of UAH 400 mn hoping to earn up to UAH 2 mn for the budget. Information about the conditions of this tender will be disclosed at the meeting next Tuesday, promised Director of NCRCU Andriy Semenchenko.