November 27 (SeeNews) - The competition authority of Albania, CAA, said it has approved an agreement for the transfer of frequencies occupied by mobile operator Plus Communication to Vodafone Albania and Telekom Albania.
The transfer was also approved by Albania’s electronic and postal communications authority (AKEP), the competition authority said in a statement on Friday.
Vodafone and Telekom will operate 50% of Plus frequencies each, according to the agreement made public by the competition authority.
Plus Communication has demanded the transfer of frequencies, saying it is facing financial difficulties which make it impossible for the company to continue offering services, the statement added.
Since 2010, Plus has been accumulating losses and therefore shareholders have twice taken measures to restructure the company in order to cover the losses, CAA quoted Plus Communication as saying in an official letter explaining the reasons of the decision to transfer the frequencies.
Vodafone is the biggest operator in Albania with 48.22% share of active users, followed by Telekom Albania 33.95%, Albtelecom with 12.6% and Plus Communication with 5.23%, according to data from Q1 2017 report of AKEP.
Albania’s telecommunications industry generates around 40 billion leks of revenue, or about 3% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), according to the statement.
(1 euro = 130.975 leks)