The Communications Regulation Commission (CRC) served four Class A and B P-MP (point-to-multipoint) licenses on Tuesday, known as WiMax.

Cablenet and Trans-Telecom were served class "A" band P-MP licences, that cost EUR 2.5 M each.

Cablenet will be providing services under the brand name of Max Telecom, was announced earlier this week.

John Munnery, who will serve as Executive Director of the company stated that: "Finally we can introduce to the Bulgarian telecommunications market the sort of competition which is now driving tariffs downwards all over Europe. We will bring to the Bulgarian market a new dimension in fast data access, whether it is in replacing expensive links, or allowing a cheap upgrade for dial-up Internet customers to Broadband."

Max Telecom plans to roll out a nationwide network based on the mobile 802.16e standard. During 2007 we expect to see data devices - such as laptop computers and PDA's - that will take advantage of the technology which is seen as a complement to 3G cellular with phones to match. The company has already completed the first round of its equipment tender process, with no less than 10 companies providing offers, and is now proceeding with a short list

The class B licences were given to Nexcom-Bulgaria and Mobiltel.

Nexcom-Bulgaria purchased its license for EUR 3.15 M, a price that was reached after seven days of bidding.

Mobiltel's EUR 3.13 M license came as somewhat of a surprise after the highest bidders backed down from the race earlier in the week. This was the price that the company had reached before giving up on the bidding in the end of October.

The four companies will have the right to use three frequency resources for ten years.

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