Austria’s Ministry for Science and Transport announced a tender for a Digital Cellular System 1800 personal communications network license, according to the U.S. Embassy in Vienna.
Interested parties that requested tender documents and submitted a $2,200 fee by March 27 were mailed tender documents that day, said the ministry. Tenders must be received by June 2.
“U.S. firms interested in bidding must act immediately. The best opportunities exist for consortia consisting of Austrian and foreign partners,” said Waltraud Augesky, a commercial specialist at the embassy.
Austria currently has two cellular operators. A Total Access Communications Service-based network was launched 25 years ago by the Post, Telephone and Telegraphenverwaltung agency. The PTV began operating a Global System for Mobile communications network, which carried about 500,000 subscribers, at the end of 1994.
The second GSM network, Maxmobil, is operated by Oe-Call. Oe-Call is a joint venture of Deutsche Telekom AG (25 percent), Siemens AG Oesterreich of Vienna (20 percent) and an Austrian/German bank conglomerate BAWAG. Oe-Call was licensed just more than a year ago, began service last summer and currently serves about 22,000 subscribers.
Austria’s cellular penetration is about 7 percent. Austria’s population is about 8 million and the ratio of landline phones to people is about 1: 1.6.
Licensing of a mobile phone operator at 1800 MHz follows the European Union’s recommendations for competition, which sets out that markets must be liberalized by next January.
