NCRC to sell UMTS license in November

The National Communications Regulatory Commission on Tuesday decided to sell a new 3G (UMTS standard) mobile communications license at an open auction on November 30. The NCRC set the starting price for the license at UAH 400 mln, with bid increments set at UAH 20 mln. The license is the 25 MHz range for 15 years and is good for services in all regions of Ukraine. The NCRC is planning to sell a remaining 75 MHz band in three equal licenses later, and it has not yet specified a date. Yegor Samusenko: Currently, Ukrtelecom (UTLM) is the sole owner of a UMTS license. Ukrtelecom’s mobile operator Utel operates using UMTS technology in the 35 MHz range since 2006, but has only been able to collect ~300 ths customers, which is less than 1% of the total market. We see a decrease in the starting price for a new UMTS license to UAH 400 mln as an indicator that sale of license would be completed, and forecast that the license’s buyer would be more successful in the development of a UMTS mobile network than Ukrtelecom. As a result, we expect Ukrtelecom either to close its mobile segment or lease its UMTS network to other operator.