| Moldova’s telecommunications regulator ANRTI has cancelled the tender to award a third mobile license following an appeal by the general prosecutor's office.
The decision took effect upon publication in Moldova's official gazette, ANRTI said. The regulator called the tender for the US$ 8.0 million license on May 27, but suspended bidding on June 7 after the general prosecutor's office asked the regulator to cancel the tender due to doubts over its legality. ANRTI had 10 days to consider the request of the prosecutor's office.
The 15-year license, with an option to be extended, would have allowed nation-wide operations using CDMA. Ex-Soviet Moldova has two mobile operators now, Voxtel and Moldcell.
Moldova’s government called the tender after the country's Constitutional Court declared illegal the government's decision to a grant third mobile license competition-free to Transdniestrian mobile operator InterDnestrCom last year. InterDnestrCom paid US$ 1.0 million for the license, a fraction of the US$ 8.0 million fee paid for the same license by the two current Moldovan mobile operators.
Mobile penetration in Moldova rose to 25.5% in the first quarter from 21.8% at the end of 2004. The number of subscribers of the country's two mobile operators rose by 9.6% in the first quarter to 862,352.
Source: SeeNews |