Competition Council's Chiritoiu: Don't believe gov't approach to make money from 5G auction is best

The government wants to make money from the 5G auction and I don't believe it's the best approach, because it would be important to have good services at affordable prices, the president of the Competition Council, Bogdan Chiritoiu, said on Thursday, agerpres reports.

"The Romanian government, which has been different every year, has told us that it wants to hold a 5G auction. My advice was that the conditions are not met. Every year, the government wants to make money from the 5G auction and I don't think it the best approach. It would be important to have good services, as we had at 4G, at affordable prices. Not necessarily to bring a lot of money to the budget from spectrum taxes. My main objection, I believe shared by ANCOM, is that we did not have the preconditions ready to launch the 5G auction, so that the participating companies can make estimates, know what the situation is, be able to figure out if it makes sense to enter this market and on what terms. Or, these things are now changing. We are already in the process of having approved the legislation that creates a lever for the state, a filter that the state can apply to ensure the use of this technology in conditions that respect the security interests of the state. It is important for companies to know which partner they can work with, what kind of equipment they can use," Chiritoiu said at the "Digitalization of Romania" videoconference.

The President of the Competition authority highlighted the importance of approving the Telecommunications Code for the faster development of 5G networks and also said that there is a need for a clarification of the situation regarding the number of operators in the local market interested in entering the tender.

"Very important is the Telecommunications Code which, among other things, creates conditions for the faster development of 5G networks, faster obtaining of authorizations. It's going to be a lot of work because the 5G network is a lot denser than what we have right now. In order for these things that are necessary to be achieved, we need the approval in Parliament of this Code of Telecommunications. We also need to know what players we have in the market. Telekom's situation was quite unclear, now it's starting to clear up. Our expectation is that, in the immediate period following, the European Commission will approve the acquisition of the fixed part of Telekom by Orange. This will probably shed clarity in the market and let us know how many players we have in the market of 5G interests. The 5G auction is important so that we can maintain this good infrastructure that Romania has had in the last period, over which we can add all the services, the applications that the technology provides to us," the head of the Competition Council added.

In mid-May, the chairman of the National Radiocommunication Society - Radiocom Board of Directors, Marian Murgulet, said that the chances for the organization of the 5G auction in Romania this year are zero, unless relevant steps happen in Parliament, by the end of June.

On 11 June, President Klaus Iohannis signed the decree for the promulgation of the Law on the adoption of measures relating to information and communication infrastructures of national interest and the conditions for the implementation of 5G networks. On June 7, the Senate passed, as a decision-making body, the bill initiated by the Government.