MoCI sets September date for 3G channel sale; sets fee at USD20m

Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCI) plans to hold a tender to auction ‘channel 11’ and ‘channel 12’ 3G frequencies this month. The date has yet to be decided.

The sale of the 3G channel frequencies was postponed at the end of last year and has been rescheduled no fewer than three times since then. Local industry watchers note that with incumbent cellcos’ networks groaning under current capacity constraints on their 3G networks, the planned allocation of a third channel is long overdue.

According to the head of public relations at the MoCI, Gatot S Dewa Broto, it will set a minimum reserve fee of IDR200 billion (USD20 million) for blocks of spectrum in the channel 11 and channel 12 auction – marking a hike on the previous price of IDR160 billion-IDR175 billion. The reserve excludes the carriers’ up-front fees and annual fee, he said. It is understood that details of the additional 3G blocks to be auctioned will be made available on 17 September, and that between 19-24 September it will begin to review the document selection process.

A number of existing carriers including Telkomsel, XL Axiata, Axis Telecom Indonesia and Hutchison CP Telecom (HCPT) are all vying to buy the last two blocks of the 12-block 3G channel, the journal said.