TRA re lunches GSM Guard Band Frequency Licence auction

TRA invites submissions of bids to acquire the GSM guard band frequencies.

Mr Alan Horne, TRA's General Director stated, "The rejection of bids for non-compliance reasons illustrates the importance of paying attention to the details of the requirements as outlined in the invitation to tender which we take seriously, and this should be an important lesson for any company that plans to enter this auction process. TRA adopted international best practice in its auction process. The process is designed to award the Licence to a company that can maximise the use of a scarce resource, in this case spectrum, and provide consumers with the best service."

According to the timetable for the auction process, set out in the invitation to tender document, the 23rd April 2009 is the final date for submission of bids, and the winner is anticipated to be announced by the end of May 2009.

In order to ensure rapid deployment of services, prospective bidders will have to demonstrate a prior ability to operate services using technologies in these or similar frequency bands. The Licence will be awarded based upon a combination of the technical and commercial merits, as well as a valid sealed financial bid, and the highest bid wins the licence.

The use of the GSM Guard Band Frequencies will allow important niche services to be provided, which require wireless connection, e.g. home delivery services, telemetry services for fleet vehicles, public utilities and wireless security. Such user applications can be satisfied by the use of innovative IP based technologies.

The Invitation to Tender is available on TRA's website (www.tra.org.bh). It contains all the relevant details of the award process and guidelines for the preparation of bids and their subsequent evaluation by TRA. In addition, the invitation to tender contains the application forms, and a draft copy of the frequency licence to be awarded to the winner.