GSM-1800 licence up for grabs

Georgian regulator the National Communications Commission is auctioning a national GSM licence using the frequency bands 1740MHz to 1741MHz, 1781MHz to 1785MHz and 1835MHz to 1836MHz, for an asking price of GEL7.7 million (USD4.4 million). Bids are being accepted until 27 November and the winner will be announced on 15 December. The regulator said that the auction followed an application for the frequencies by Mobitel, a subsidiary of Russian cellco VimpelCom which already has a GSM-1800 licence but has not yet launched services. Most of Georgia’s 1.5 million mobile subscribers are shared between two operators, MagtiCom, with a market share of 44% at June 2006, and Geocell with 54%, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database.