BUCHAREST, Romania—In a press statement, the Czech Telecommunications Office (CTU) said that only mobile operators RadioMobil and EuroTel Praha submitted bids for third-generation (3G) licenses in the country.
The third Czech GSM incumbent operator, Cesky Mobil, refused to participate to the license tender, claiming that the 3.5 billion koruny (US$94 million) license fee is too high.
“The current conditions of the auction run the risk that Oskar’s customers would pay too high a price for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) services,” said Al Tolstoy, Cesky Mobil’s chief executive officer (CEO). “Therefore we decided to pass on this round of the UMTS auction.” Oskar is the brand name of Cesky Mobil’s service.
The 3G license winners will be required to pay US$26 million immediately and the rest during the next 10 years.