The state telecom commission decided yesterday to call a closed-bid auction for the country’s fourth cell-phone licence expected to take place in the second half of July. The starting price is set at BGN 38mn (EUR 19.4mn). The bidding rules will be published in the official state journal by June 10. The licence will be valid for 20 years. As recalled, twelve companies submitted expressions of interest in the country’s fourth licence for cell-phone services: Turkey’s leading cell-phone operator Turkcell; Lichtenstein’s Telco AG, which holds a licence for mobile virtual network operator (MVNO); five local alternative telecoms: the WiMAX operators Max Telecom, Carrier BG, Trans Telecom and the wireline operators Eastern Telecommunications Company and Spectrum Net; and five other companies registered in the country with different specialisations in the ICT industry: A&T Inc, Artland, Handy-Tel, Mobile World, and Velocity. The three incumbent cell-phone operators have raised the country’s penetration rate in terms of active SIM cards to 130% of the population as of end-March, which means the new market entrant will face significant business challenges to attract sufficient customer base.