News
Country’s existing mobile operators snap up spectrum in multiple bands, raising 50 million for state coffers.
Montenegro’s telecoms regulator this week announced the conclusion of a multi-band spectrum auction that saw the country’s three existing mobile operators pick up airwaves, but failed to attract interest from any new players.
The Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (EKIP) sold off spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands via an auction process that ran for almost a month before drawing to a close on 2 August.
In the pre-auction stage it ensured that certain frequencies were reserved at a particular price point for a potential new market entrant, but given that there was no interest in the package, those airwaves were wrapped into the main auction.
It raised €50.65 million from the process overall, including €35.73 million via the main auction.
The country’s three existing mobile operators – Crnogorski Telekom, which is indirectly owned by Deutsche Telekom and operates as T-Mobile, Telenor, and Telekom Srbija’s Mtel – all walked away with spectrum, EKIP said.
However, not all the available spectrum was assigned. EKIP calculated the value of unsold frequencies at €8.31 million, based on reserve prices.
