Slovenia

last updated: January 4, 2002

December 6, 2001	The Slovenian government has finally signed a deal with state-owned operator Mobitel granting it the only 3G license in the country. Mobitel is to pay SIT 22bn (EUR101.4m) for a 3G monopoly. Chief Executive Anton Majzelj said: "We have secured from various sources the money needed to pay the license."

December 2, 2001	Following on from the news that the Slovenian government had only managed to attract interest for its 3G licenses from one operator (state-owned Mobitel), the Slovenian minister of information Pavel Gantar has now postponed signing the agreement with Mobitel. The process has now been halted as rival operator Si.mobil had filed a complaint. Si.mobil is claiming because only one bidder entered the tender for the three licenses on offer, the whole contest is invalid. "We would consider the tender successful only if there were two bidders," said the company's Chief Executive Bojan Dremelj. Si.mobil is holding out for a cheaper license which reflects the fact that there are just two million people in the country. Dremelj said: "We believe that the price of SIT22bn [EUR 102.6m] per license is too high."

November 24, 2001	The Slovenian government said it had managed to sell just one UMTS licence to mobile phone operator Mobitel, the sole bidder in the country's auction of three next generation mobile telecoms licences. Mobitel, a wholly owned subsidiary of Slovenia's state-owned Telekom, will pay 22 billion tolars (EUR 101.4 million) in the deal. Simobil, 49-percent owned by Austria's Mobilkom, said the price was too high. It warned the Slovenian government against awarding a sole licence on the grounds it would create a monopoly. A government spokesman said Slovenia hoped to avoid this situation by offering the licences again within the next 18 months but declined to comment on whether the asking price would be dropped.

September 14, 2001:	Slovenia's second largest mobile provider Simobil has complained and urged the government to annul the public tender in which one 3G license was given to Mobitel on 3 September.

September 3, 2001:

A 3G license was given to Mobitel which is own by Telekom Slovenia, the government owns the majority of the company.

Jun 1, 2001:

The Slovenian government will open a second UMTS mobile licence tender following a failed tender in May where only state-owned Mobitel applied. The minimum asking price will be 22bn tolars (E103.4m), down from the first round request of 27bn tolars (E127.2m). The government said in a statement that the tender will succeed even it has just one application when it expires September 3.

November 25, 2001	The Slovenian tender failed to attract sufficient interest to be allowed to carry on. There were three licenses available, but the Ministry of Information Technology revealed that there was just one application received from the state owned carrier, Mobitel. The tender would have been evaluated as successful if at least two applications had been received. The country's two remaining operators, Si.Mobil and Western Wireless chose not to file applications for the tender. It is believed that the high price of licenses at Slovenian tolars 27bn (EUR125m) each proved too prohibitive. Si.mobil released a statement saying "Si.mobil decided not to participate in the tender because of the high price of the licence which is several times higher per capita than in most European countries." It is expected that the ministry will re-evaluate its pricing strategy and then announce a new 3G auction before the end of June.

10th Mar 01:	The Slovenian government has announced that it will grant 3 UMTS licenses by tender valid for 15 years. The licenses will include the right to use the radio frequency of 1900-1980 MHz, 2010-2025 MHz and 2110-2170 MHz across the whole of Slovenia. Reserve price of EUR 126million eac.

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