BELGRADE, Serbia, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A government minister says Serbia is offering a third mobile phone license to a strategic partner, having sold its second license to Norway's Telenor.
Serbian Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic on Tuesday signed with Telenor executives the sale agreement of its Mobi63 mobile company and license to operate in Serbia for $1.93 billion.
Telenor bought Mobi63 Monday in a public auction in Belgrade, outbidding Austria's Mobilkom and Egypt's Orascom.
Dinkic said the Serbian government owns MTS Mobilna Telefonija Serbia and has no immediate plans to sell it. However, he said the government "now is open to grant a third mobile telephone license.
He said the government will organize an international tender and a public auction, similar to the procedure in which it sold the Mobi63 mobile net.
Dinkic said a minimum price for the third mobile phone license will be $407 million but the winner of the auction will have to purchase all other equipment and install it to put the network into operation.
Boris Nemsic of Mobilkom Austria said Monday he plans to purchase Serbia's third mobile phone license, after it lost bidding for Mobi63.
