Orange Gets 3G License in Jordan

Jordan's telecoms regulator, the Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (TRC) says that it has awarded a 3G license to Orange Jordan for a price of JD50 million (US$70.5 million). The license is valid for 15 years.

The operator has exclusive rights to the frequency block for 12 months from the launch of the network, after which other operators will be allowed to bid for usage rights. Orange has already rolled out some of the required network infrastructure and is expected to be able to launch 3G services within six months.

Zain also bid for a license, but was rejected for not meeting the regulator's requirements.

This is the second time the regulator has tried to issue the 3G licenses. The last attempt failed after none of the bidders met the regulator's minimum terms. It is understood that some of the conditions were relaxed in this round, enabling Orange to win the tender.

The original 3G license tender had been delayed several times, and the TRC had intended to release the Tender document last December, but it was postponed due to requests submitted by Zain, Orange and XPress, in order to have more time to complete studying their business plans, and due to the public holidays in December which prevented them from completing the needed procedures.

The government was due to auction off just one license to a new-entrant, but would then allocate 3G licenses to the three incumbent operators at the same price.

The Mobile World subscriber tracker notes that the country ended Q1 '09 with just under 5.5 million mobile phone users - representing a population penetration level of 87%. The country currently has four mobile network operators, and three WiMAX networks.

On the web: Telecommunications Regulatory Commission - Mobile World

Posted to the site on 19th August 2009