Invitation to bid for further mobile phone operating licences in December 1998

For the first time regional licences in the DCS 1800 range will be awarded - Telekom-Control starts with consultation procedure

Press release dated 4 November 1998

The invitation to bid for the fourth Austria-wide mobile phone operating licence in the DCS 1800 frequency range for Austria and a number of regional licences will be performed in this year, namely in the third week of December. The consultant in charge is Deloitte & Touche Austria. As a first step for the public invitation to bid, Telekom-Control GmbH invites interested persons or organizations to provide statements on relevant points concerning the pending award of licences. A respective announcement will also be made internationally.

"With this consultation procedure we intend to give the interested public and all parties that may wish to participate in the auction the opportunity to notify us their opinion, particularly concerning questions of the design of the auction and conditions of the licence" says Dr. Heinrich Otruba, Managing Director of Telekom-Control GmbH. The Austrian Ministry of Science and Transport put Telekom-Control in charge with the organisation of the public invitation.

All questions for tender that are relevant for the further licence-awarding procedure can be obtained directly from Telekom-Control or from Telekom-Control’s homepage at www.tkc.at. All answers received untill November 20, 1998 will be considered.

For the first time there will also be regional licences.

The impending invitation to bid will for the first time award non-Austria-wide (i.e. regional) mobile phone service licences in addition to the then second Austria-wide mobile phone operating licence in the DCS 1800 frequency range.

A spectrum of 14,6 MHz (73 channels) is provided for the second nationwide DCS 1800 licence and 15,8 MHz (79 channels) for the regional licences. In Telekom-Control’s consultation procedure interest will be give particularly to the assessment of the regional structure of the regional licences.

"The licences will be awarded as" planned "in the first quarter of next year", confirms Otruba. The licences will be awarded to applicants that meet the requirements according the Austrian Telecommunications Act (§ 15 Section 2 TKG). The requirements such as securing quality and coverage obligations financial strength and experience in the telecommunications or related business areas also apply to the award of the regional licences.