Oskar to be awarded Czech 3G licence

December 18, 2004 - source: BWCS

The Czech government is set to award the country's third 3G licence to Oskar Mobil. The Minister for IT and Communications Vladimir Mlyanar made the announcement yesterday following a full cabinet meeting. It will now be down to the Czech Telecoms Office (CTU) to make the formal announcement.

Oskar, a subsidiary of Telesystem International Wireless, was the only mobile operator in the Czech Republic left without a next generation phone licence after the other two operators, Eurotel and T-Mobile, paid CKr3.5 billion and CKr3.8 billion respectively for their 3G franchises back in 2001. At the time Oskar claimed the price was too high.

Should the Canadian-backed company, which has 1.8 million customers and claims a 20% share of the Czech mobile market, again reject the licence fee, the CTU says it will offer it to other telecoms companies at the same price. Oskar will be given until the end of February to accept or reject the CTU's offer. The government says it plans to have a third 3G player in place by the middle of next year. Eurotel and the German-owned T-Mobile plan to launch their 3G services in Prague by January 2006.