The Bahrain Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has relaunched the auction process for the GSM Guard Band Frequencies Licence.

It took the decision after it had established that the two bids received in December were non-compliant with the auction rules.

GSM Guard Band frequencies allow important niche services to be provided, which require wireless connection.

These include home delivery services, telemetry services for fleet vehicles, public utilities and wireless security.

'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,' said TRA general director Alan Horne.

'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, April 23 is the final date for submission of bids, and the winner is anticipated to be announced by the end of May.

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.-TradeArabia News Service