Informing the public of the decision made by the Croatian Telecommunications Agency's Council, Council chairman Gasper Gacina said that Tele2 was bound to conclude the agreement by 2 February 2005 at the latest.
The GSM/UMTS national concession has been granted for a period of 20 years. Tele2 is expected to invest 172 million kuna in the first year of its operation.
The decision on awarding the concession to Tele 2 was adopted unanimously. The other two bidders -- Match Telecom and Croatia Mobile -- did not enter the final round of selection as they failed to submit bank guarantees by 3 December.
The tender of Tele 2 is supported by a Croatian-Swedish consortium consisting of nine Croatian companies which make up 49 percent of the consortium's stock, while the Swedish Tele 2 operator holds 51 percent.
The Croatian companies in the consortium are Dalekovod, Jamnica, Fima Holding, the Croatia Osiguranje insurance company, Nexe Group, Konstruktor-Inzinjering, Lura, the Croatian Construction Institute and Privredna Banka Zagreb.
The bid of Tele 2 had been rejected at a previous invitation for bids in October this year. The company improved the bid and applied again. This time the Council found its tender the best and awarded Tele 2 the operating licence.