Greece's Cosmote, Two Bulgarian Cos Interested in Tenders for Bulgarian GSM Licences

Cosmo Bulgaria Mobile, which runs the country’s second mobile phone operator Globul, Epsilon Construction and Comtech have bought tender documents for a licence for the 2х15/1800 megahertz (MHz) frequency, the Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) said in a statement on its website.

The starting price in the tender, scheduled for December 10, was set at 57 million levs ($36.5 million/28.9 million euro).

Epsilon Construction has also bought papers for another tender, for a licence for the 2х10/1800 MHz frequency, which is to be held on December 17 at a starting price of 38 million levs.

In August CRC scrapped a tender for a 20-year GSM licence due to irregularities in the sole bid it received, from Liechtenstein-registered TelCo. The regulator had set the starting price in the tender at 38 million levs.

Bulgaria, which has a population of 7.6 million, has another two wireless operators- Mobiltel, a unit of Telekom Austria, and Vivatel, owned by Bulgaria's dominant fixed-line operator BTC.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)