Irregularities in Slovenian 3G License Award

The Slovenian telecoms regulator, APEK has been found guilty of irregularities when it awarded a 3G license by the country's Commission for the Prevention of Corruption. Last April, the regulator granted a 3G license to the Tusmobil - but as the operator was the sole bidder, the regulator said that the firm would not be charged for the license.

In a report, the Slovenian Commission for the Prevention of Corruption, KPK said that the tender was not transparent and that the mobile operator benefited from a commercial gain of €2 million due to the process. The regulator has issued a statement disagreeing with the findings and said that the value of the 3G license was greatly exaggerated.

The Commission particularly noted that the regulator appeared to only publish details of the 3G license tender on its website after enquiries from the operators and journalists who had become aware that the tender was available - but not being promoted in the usual manner. While it was reported in the government's Official Gazette, but it was felt that it would be usual for the notice to also be put onto the regulator's website as well. The report claimed that seven companies could have been interested in the tender, had it been more widely promoted and therefore the regulator had deprived the government of the income from the license fee sale.

No comment has been issued as to what the next steps, if any could be taken - or if Tusmobil could be required to pay a fee for its license.

Tusmobil launched a GSM network in the middle of 2007, and according to figures from the Mobile World database, the operator ended last September with an estimated 18,000 subscribers. The company has a market share of 1% in a market which has just over 1.9 million subscribers.

On the web: Commission for the Prevention of Corruption - APEK - Mobile World

Posted to the site on 6th March 2009