Romania to launch 5G auction in Q2 of 2021

On 4 December 2020, the Romanian National Authority for Administration and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) launched its 2021 action plan for public debate, which will feature the launch of the 5G spectrum auction.

ANCOM states that the auction will take place in the second quarter 2021 with the first quarter devoted to finalising the selection procedure for granting radio-spectrum rights in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1500 MHz, 2600 MHz, 3400-3800 MHz frequency bands for the provision of 5G services. This will involve establishing conditions for granting right of use and drafting rules for carrying out the selection procedure. Once the process is established, the actual selection procedure will be carried out in the second quarter of 2021.

Initially scheduled to take place last year, the auction was postponed due to the fact that the Romanian Memorandum on 5G with the US was not implemented into local law and that the relevant license fees were not approved.

Currently, 2,100 MHz frequency bands are licensed to Orange, Vodafone, Telekom and Digi, following two comparative selection procedures in 2004 and 2006 in which the price per license was set at USD 35 million for a period of 15 years.

Following the upcoming auction, the total budget is expected to reach USD 600 million, with the full amount to be collected from these operators.

ANCOM also plans to implement the Infrastructure Law, which is expected to have a significant impact on the electronic communications market as well as other sectors of the economy.

ANCOM’s action plan for 2021 is available (in Romanian) at: Proiect_plan_actiuni_public_aNCOM_20211607076441.pdf.

Interested parties are invited to submit comments and proposals until 4 January 2021. We will update Law-Now readers on any changes.