Saturday, May 30, 2009

Jordan: TRG needed time to consider 3G bid from JTG

[zawya] The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) Wednesday said that it needs a "few days" to study a technical offer by the Jordan Telecom Group (JTG), the sole bidder for the country's first Third Generation frequencies licence, before announcing the result of the tender.

The commission was scheduled to announce the results of the tender it floated in March for the 3G licence yesterday, but a TRC source said they needed more time.

"We have to study some documents attached to the group's technical offer, which means we need few days before making a decision."

The source, who preferred anonymity, told The Jordan Times over the phone yesterday that the TRC will open the JTG's financial offer only when it finishes studying the technical offer.

Asked about the delay in announcing the result, the source said the tender authorises the TRC to delay the announcement of the results of the tender or delay opening the offers until it sees fit.

If the JTG's technical and financial offers meet the conditions, the commission will announce the winner of the tender, which entails providing advanced services such as video calls, traditional SMS and MMS as well as high-speed mobile data and Internet access.

If plans go as scheduled, people across the Kingdom will have access to 3G services by the end of this year, according to the TRC.

According to the tender, the reserve price of the spectrum is set at JD25 million for a paired block of the 5MHz spectrum, which will specify the minimum fees of this band and will not include evacuation charges and annual returns. The bidders are free to obtain 10, 15 or 20 paired MHz.

Announcement of 3G tender results delayed

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