The Australian Communications Authority has invited applications for an auction of previously unsold 800 MHz and 1.8 GHz PCS spectrum.
Bids closed on 31 August for the partial privatization of Telekom Austria. The Austrian government is looking to sell a 25-percent stake in the company, with a decision expected before year-end.
Bosnia may adopt new telecommunications laws in the near future that would open the way to new wireless competitors in the market, which currently has two GSM operators.
El Salvador successfully auctioned 51 percent of wireless company Intel on 17 July. Telefonica de Espana and minority partners Atlas (the communications arm of El Salvador’s Taca Airlines) offered US$41 million, considerably higher than the minimum price of US$11.9 million, and US$10 million higher than second-place BellSouth Corp.’s bid. Intel has the rights to the B-band spectrum in El Salvador, but its network is not operational yet. Competitor Telemovil El Salvador, owned by Millicom, currently is the sole cellular provider in the country.
The government of Hungary plans to award three GSM 1800 licenses in early 1999.
Paraguay may sell a minority stake of state phone company Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, known as Antelco, according to a Reuters report. Paraguayan President Raul Cubas Grau said his government would ask Congress this year to authorize the sale of the stake in Antelco, which is valued at about US$800 million, said the report.
The government of Peru and telecommunications company Telefonica del Peru agreed to end the company’s monopoly on conventional telephone service, according to published reports. Telefonica del Peru provides local, long-distance, wireless, paging and cable TV services in the country. Its monopoly on local and long-distance services was scheduled to last until next June. Telefonica del Peru already competes in the wireless arena with Tele2000, a company owned by BellSouth Corp. Telefonica, which operates analog and CDMA digital wireless networks, supports about 350,000 wireless subscribers. Tele2000 has about 136,000 subscribers. The auction of a third 30-year concession for a cellular network in Peru’s provinces has been plagued with repeated delays.
The government of Puerto Rico elected to stay with a bid made by a GTE Corp.-led consortium for Puerto Rico Telephone Co. (PRTC) after receiving a competing bid from Spain’s Telefonica Internacional S.A. GTE in May signed a definitive agreement with the Puerto Rican government to purchase a controlling interest in PRTC. The agreement allowed the government to review any competing bids.
The Romanian government has delayed the sale of a stake in state telecommunications operator RomTelecom to give bidders more time to evaluate the company, according to a Reuters report. The sale process now is scheduled to begin one or two months after the original October time frame.
Low-tier mobile phone service in Taiwan was opened to competition by the country’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications, with a tender announcement expected by December and commercial service rollout by March.
