January 4 (SeeNews) - Serbia is expected to hold an auction for allocating frequencies for 5G networks to mobile network operators around the middle of 2022, minister of trade, tourism, and telecommunications Tatjana Matic said.
The sale of 5G frequencies could bring Serbia approximately 150 million euro ($169.4 million), Matic said in a press release on Monday.
Serbia will first draft a new law on electronic communications, and then launch the auction process, Matic added.
"The [5G] network is primarily important for the sector of industry," the minister noted, adding that the benefits of the implementation would be the most visible in agriculture, healthcare, traffic, logistics, transport, and the automotive industry.
At the end of December, the Politika daily quoted Dragoljub Stefanovic, chief operating officer at Serbia's Regulatory Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (RATEL), as saying that the government is likely to need at least nine months for the process.
Matic said earlier that Telekom Srbija, A1 Telekom Austria Group's Serbian unit, and Telenor Serbia will participate in the auction for 5G infrastructure.
($ = 0.8852 euro)