The Committee for evaluation of the tender for the 3rd mobile license in Slovakia, nominated by Telecommunication office of the Slovak Republic (“Regulator”), announced that the bid of Telefónica O2 Slovakia, s.r.o. was ranked as winning ahead of Mobilkom Austria and joint offer of Ceské Radiokomunikace and the Slovak private equity group Penta.

Telefónica O2 Slovakia offered to pay SKK 150 mil (approx. € 3.9 mil) fee for the license. The license includes the right to use frequencies GSM 900 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz, UMTS and FS 29 GHz to provide telecommunications services in Slovakia, for a period of 20 years.

The Regulator stated that the right to use the frequency spectrum will be granted to the winner within 4 weeks time. Detailed license conditions and rollout plans will be specified during this period.

The Committee’s decision confirms the strength of the Telefónica Group and its increasing importance in the region. The new operations are considered as an organic expansion of the Telefónica business in the region and will take advantage of synergies with Telefónica O2 Czech Republic operations.

Telefónica O2 Slovakia is now tuning its plans for successful entry to the Slovak market, which will include innovative marketing, brand and technological approach. Telefónica O2 Slovakia´s ambition is to contribute to the competitiveness of the Slovak telecommunications market, to bring benefits to the Slovak customers and also to increase the value to Telefónica’s shareholders.

Norwegian telco Telenor acquired Serbia’s Mobi63 for $1.93bn in a public auction in Belgrade on Monday.Telenor won the auction by beating off bids from Austria’s Mobilkom and Egypt’s Orascom.

Mobi63 was owned by the Serbian government and a consortium of Austrian investors. No ownership percentages were available.

Telenor initially bid $1.658bn, around $600m more than a minimum price of $1.020bn, set by the Serbian government. Offered prices could go up by $25.5m in each round of bidding.

Smart Communications unveiled new and expanded 3G service offerings and announced the commercial rates for its Third Generation cellular service which is now supported by an extensive nationwide network ready for High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology.

Starting May 1st, Smart postpaid and prepaid subscribers with 3G-capable handsets will enjoy enhanced applications and extensive rich media content on a commercial basis. These include live TV streaming of two major television networks and 3G downloads of full music tracks and video clips.

Smart 3G users can now make video calls not only within the country but also to 3G subscribers of eight mobile phone operators in six countries that include Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Austria and Germany.

“With 800 cellsites covering 119 key cities and municipalities, Smart offers genuine nationwide 3G coverage. We’ve made the service very affordable to encourage usage. To pave the way for continuous improvement in the service, we’ve made our 3G network HSDPA-ready” said Napoleon L. Nazareno, president and CEO, SMART.

Smart is not only the first mobile operator in the country to commercially launch 3G services but also the first to use a 3G network with HSDPA technology.

High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) allows data calls with transfer rates exceeding one megabit per second. HSDPA will allow better quality video streaming as well as enhance user experience of Web browsing and file downloads. As Smart’s 3G cellsites are already HSDPA-ready, subscribers can enjoy the service once the devices are available in the market. Last March, Smart became the first operator in the country to successfully conduct HSDPA test calls.

When Smart 3G was launched February 14, 3G services such as video-streaming, video calls, high-speed internet browsing and downloading of special 3G content were offered on a free-trial basis.

Under the introductory pricing scheme that takes effect May 1st, Smart 3G rates are aligned with existing 2G rates while some services will remain free of charge.

:: Video calling. Smart-to-Smart local 3G video calls remain free of charge. Smart’s 3G customers can also make international video calls for the price of a regular IDD call (at US$0.40 per minute) to eight 3G operators in six countries. These include NTT DoCoMo in Japan, CSL, Smartone and Hutchison in Hong Kong, Starhub in Singapore, Chunghwa in Taiwan, Vodafone in Germany and Mobilkom in Austria – with many more being added in the coming months. Meanwhile, video calling on international roaming will remain the same as international roaming voice rates for both outbound and inbound roamers.

:: Video and audio streaming. All Smart 3G video and audio streaming applications – including live TV viewing – will be charged a P15 access fee for every 30 minutes based on running time that starts when a subscriber clicks on a streaming link regardless of the number of videos viewed. Aside from the access charge, there will be a separate fee for content. Smart 3G subscribers can watch GMA7 and ABS-CBN Channel 2 live via video streaming. Subscription fee for each network is P20 per day. 3G streaming of audio and video clips will be charged P5 per hit. However, streaming of movie trailers, live traffic and summer hotspots cameras and music videos will be free of charge.

:: Multimedia Messaging. Rates for multimedia messaging or MMS across all Smart subscribers have been set at P1 per message for Smart-to-Smart messages and P2 per MMS for Smart to other operators. Before, the rate for MMS was P5 per send.

:: Internet browsing. Internet and WAP browsing using GPRS and 3G will be at P10 for every 30 minutes, regardless of the file size downloaded. The charge applies to browsing Internet sites outside of the free Smart WAP site whether connected via GPRS or 3G.

:: Downloads. For Smart 3G content such as video clips, ringtones, visual ringers, and games, the introductory rates range from P20 for a video clip download to P50 for a full music track and a premium game. Downloading of preview clips will be free of charge.

For postpaid subscribers, all introductory 3G rates are part of their consumable plans. Corporate accounts have the option to avail of the introductory pricing or retain their current data consumption rate based on their contracts.

Smart currently has approximately a quarter of a million subscribers with 3G capable handsets.

The commercial launch of Smart 3G is a culmination of significant milestones and firsts. In December 2005, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) awarded SMART its 3G license after the telco garnered the only perfect score of 30 based on the regulatory body’s grading system designed to gauge the capability of operators to massively and effectively provide 3G services.

This was followed two months after by the launch of Smart 3G on free trial basis, making Smart the first telco to offer 3G to the public. In March, the company also successfully made the country’s first data test call on HSDPA, with registered data throughputs at speeds exceeding one megabit per second (Mbps).

The company started preparations for a seamless transition to 3G as early as five years ago. In December 2000, SMART in cooperation with Nokia conducted the first successful experimental 3G video call trials in the country in the presence of NTC officials.