Four companies apply for a new mobile communications license

Romtelecom, main landline phone operator in Romania, Telemobil, Postelecom Network and NetPoint have filed bids for a new mobile phone communications license.

Romtelecom officials said the new license will be used where infrastructure investments are unprofitable. The Romanian mobile phone market has some 25 million active subscriber identify module (SIM) cards worth over €2.5 billion. The high penetration rate for mobile phone services will determine companies to focus on data services.

The market leader is Orange, which supplies mobile phone, data and 3G services to over 10 million clients. Vodafone Romania has over 9 million clients for mobile phone and 3G services, while Cosmote has over 4.2 million clients for mobile phone services.

RDS-RCS operator began supplying mobile phone services this January and has over 1.1 million clients. The fifth operator on the market, Telemobil, owns a code division multiple access (CDMA) license and a 3G license which became operational this year.

Business Standard