Macedonia looking for firms to bid for three more 3G licences (Macedonia)In a bid to liberalise the market and increase competition, Government of Macedonia is looking to license three more firms to offer 3G mobile services in the country. Ministry of Transport said the tender process for the 3G awards will be prepared in the coming months with starting prices for each concession expected to be set at USD14.5 million. A report reveals that Macedonian telecoms regulator, the Agency for Electronic Communications (AEC), awarded a 3G licence to domestic mobile operator Cosmofon following a tender it launched in November 2007. The licence again cost EUR10 million and will enable Cosmofon to deploy a UMTS network supporting data speeds of up to 3.6Mbps using HSDPA technology.
AEC also proclimed the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) in the country, effective 1 September 2008. The advent of MNP, which affects Cosmofon, T-Mobile Macedonia and Mobilkom Macedonia (VIP Mobile), allows subscribers to change their service provider but retain their existing phone number and prefix. This move will bolster competition the competition in the mobile market.
