BUDAPEST -(Dow Jones)- The Hungarian government will publish on May 4 its decision on whether it will extend the 900 megahertz GSM concession contracts of the two major mobile service providers, Gyula Simon, director at the national telecommunications authority, NHH, said Thursday.
The 15-year GSM concession contracts of T-Mobile and Pannon will expire Nov. 4, 2008 and negotiations on the renewal of the contracts must start 18 months prior to their expiry.
The government has the option to extend the concession period or call a tender or an auction for the two licenses, Simon said at an open hearing on the future of these licenses. If it opts to extend the contracts, it may do so for a period of seven and a half years, Simon said.
Pannon, wholly owned by Norway's Telenor, paid $50 million for the 15-year concession while T-Mobile, a unit of Magyar Telekom, paid $46 million. Magyar Telekom is majority owned by Deutsche Telekom.
Vodafone Hungary, a wholly owned subsidiary of Vodafone, entered the market at a later point so its 900 MHz license will expire 2014.
Vodafone paid 48.55 billion forints ($264.2 million) for GSM 900 and DCS 1,800 MHz 15-year concession in 1999.
The government could also seek to harmonize the expiry of the three licenses, Simon added.
Hungary's mobile penetration rate stood at 99.2% at the end of February, while in some European Union countries this rate could be as high as 120%, the NHH said.
"This shows that there's potential for further market growth in Hungary, there's room for a fourth (mobile) service provider, be that an infrastructure or just a virtual provider," the NHH said in a release Thursday.
Authority's Web site: http://www.nhh.hu
-By Edith Balazs, Dow Jones Newswires; +361-267-0623; edith.balazs@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires"
Posted to the site on 5th April 2007
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/23019.php