Telekom Romania considers pulling out of 5G licenses auction

Telekom Romania considers the option of not attending the auction for new frequency bands the local telecom regulator ANCOM will sell this year for the delivery of 5G services, the group’s CEO Miroslav Majoros said at a press conference.

The reason for this is the high price Romania’s Government plans to charge for the new licenses, according to the Government’s emergency ordinance 114/2018. However, the company can technically deliver 5G services using the frequency bands it already operates, Majoros added, Romania Insider reads.

“We are doing business, we are not a charity,” he stated. He added that he still hopes the terms of the auction will be “reasonable.”

Earlier this year, Romanian telecom operators estimated the fees they might have to pay over 2.7 billion Euro for the 5G operating licenses, based on ordinance 114/2018. They see such fees as unrealistic since the tariffs paid for the 4G licenses amounted to 700 million Euro.