NCRC to cancel UMTS license tender

The National Communications Regulatory Commission said yesterday it planned to cancel a tender for a new 3G (UMTS standard) mobile telephone service provision license at a meeting today after the Prosecutor General’s office ordered it to not run the auction. The UMTS license auction was scheduled for November 27. Yegor Samusenko: Delay in the UMTS license auction has slight positive implications for Ukrtelecom (UTLM), currently the sole owner of the license in this band. However, we do not believe Ukrtelecom will be successful in exploiting its prolonged monopoly, since in the three years it has been the sole holder of a 3G license in Ukraine, it has only attracted less than 1% of total mobile customers.