The Agency for Electronic Communications (AEC) announced a tender for granting approvals for the use of radio frequencies for the fifth generation 5G mobile. The deadline for submission of bids is 35 days, and the public opening of bids is scheduled for January 5 at 10 am. The decision for selection of bidders that will participate in the envisaged public bidding procedure will be made within seven days from the day of the public opening of the bids.

The right to participate in the public tender has a domestic and foreign natural or legal person who will collect the tender documentation and who meets the conditions: in the last five years he has not been pronounced a final verdict for participation in a criminal organization, corruption, fraud or money laundering; not to have been sentenced to a secondary punishment, temporary or permanent prohibition to perform a certain activity; not to be in bankruptcy proceedings or liquidation proceedings; to have paid taxes, contributions and other public duties, unless he has been granted deferred payment of taxes, contributions or other public duties in accordance with special regulations and pays them regularly; and not to have been pronounced a misdemeanor sanction of prohibition to perform a profession, activity or duty, ie temporary prohibition to perform a certain activity.

The bidder must give a written statement that it will start using the radio frequencies specified in the approvals for the use of radio frequencies within nine months from the date of validity of the approval.

The approvals for use of radio frequencies from the decision of AEK, A1, A2, A3, B1, B2 and B3 are issued for a period of 15 years, and the approvals B41, B44, B45 and B46 for a period of six years, valid from the day of issuance of the approval and with the right to extend the validity of the approval in a manner determined in the Law on Electronic Communications.

Criterion for selection of the most favorable bidder for granting approvals for use of radio frequencies referred to in Article 2 of this Decision is the amount of the one-time fee for obtaining approvals for use of radio frequencies.

The lowest initial amount of the market value of the radio frequencies as a one-time fee for obtaining the approval for use of radio frequencies from Article 2 of this decision for the approval A1 is 2.750.000 Euros; for approvals A2 and A3 it amounts to EUR 5.500.000, per approval; for the approval B1 is 1.250.000 euros; and for approvals B2 and B3 it amounts to 2.500.000 euros, per approval. For the approval B41 the amount is 11.670 euros; for approvals B44 and B45 it is 5.830 euros, per approval, and for approval B46 it is 6.920 euros.

The government agreed on November 9th on the amount of the one-time fee and the method of its payment, and the decision was published in the Official Gazette.

Letters of interest for participation in the tender for granting approvals for use of radio frequencies for 5G, after the announcement of AEK on June 1 this year were submitted by the companies Neotel, Bitstream Mobile, Makedonski Telekom and A1 Macedonia.

The operators that will receive approval for national coverage are obliged to provide coverage with the newly issued and existing approvals for use of radio frequencies, in accordance with the National Operational Broadband Plan. Specifically, by the end of 2023 at least one city to be covered with 5G signal, and by the end of 2025, the main corridors under the Agreement for establishing a transport community on the main and comprehensive road network in the country to be covered with uninterrupted 5G signal. By the end of 2027, all cities in the country will be covered with uninterrupted 5G signal, and by the end of 2029, every citizen will have the opportunity to access the Internet via 5G with a minimum internet access speed of at least 100 Mbps.