Panama to Auction
Cellular Licences by
March 2008
Panama will auction two
new wireless licences at
a minimum price of us$36
million each, in a bid
to increase competition
and encourage lower
prices, writes Reuters
citing a government
statement.
Michael Mihalitsianos,
the director of the
National Authority for
Public Services (ASEP),
said the two new
concessions will be
awarded in March 2008,
after a
pre-qualification
period, which is already
underway.
He said around half a
dozen companies had
expressed interest in
the 20-year licences,
including Mexico's
America Movil, Iusacell,
France Telecom’s Orange,
Digicel and local cable
company Cable Onda.
Mihalitsianos declined
to say whether the
incumbent cellcos Cable
& Wireless and
Telefonica would be
permitted to bid for the
new licences, or whether
companies would be able
to compete for more than
one licence.
According to
TeleGeography’s
GlobalComms database, at
the end of June 2007
there were around two
million wireless users
in Panama, with C&W
accounting for 58% of
the base and Telefonica
the remainder.
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