Hungary Sets 3G Tender Deadline

May 18, 2004 - source: BWCS

The Hungarian government is to invite tenders for 3G licences by the end of August, its IT and Telecom Minister Kalman Kovacs announced earlier this week. Four licences will be offered, though Kovacs said he expected only three of them to be taken up.

The most likely bidders are Hungary's three existing mobile operators - T-Mobile/Matav, Vodafone and Pannon GSM (owned by Telenor). However, late last year all three voiced their opposition to the introduction of 3G until 2005 at the earliers, claiming that existing network capacity and 2.5G technologies would be sufficient to meet customers' data requirements for the foreseeable future.

In an effort to attract bids from other companies, Kovacs said that successful 3G bidders would also be offered some 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrum, if they did not already own a licence. One company rumoured to be interested in bidding is Hungarian Telecophone and Cable Company (HTCC), a regional fixed-line operator, which earlier this month signed a letter of intent to purchase KPN's 75.2 percent stake in alternative telecom service provider PanTel.

The government is hoping to realise HUF15.8 billion (US$7.3 million) from the sale of 3G licences in the 2004 budget year. It claims this target is low enough to avoid the problems caused for operators by the excessive licence fees in other markets.