The Telecommunications Office of the Slovak Republic (hereinafter "the Office"), which under Sections 6(1)(b) and (3) and 11(1)(c) of Act no. 610/2003 Coll. on Electronic Communications ("the Electronic Communications Act"), as amended, is a state administration authority in the field of electronic communications, hereby

issues

in accordance with Section 32(6), (7) and (8) of the Electronic Communications Act, in relation to Sections 19(4), (5) and (6) and 68(2) and (3) of Act no. 220/2007 Coll. on the Digital Broadcasting of Programme Services and the Provision of Other Content Services by means of Digital Transmission and on amendments to certain laws (hereinafter "the Digital Broadcasting Act")

an invitation to tender

for licences to operate the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes in the territory of the Slovak Republic on the basis of the allocation of commercially linked  frequencies allotted for the establishment of these multiplexes.

Licences to operate the first digital terrestrial multiplex will be issued by the Office with validity until 31 May 2015, and they shall be commercially linked until 31 December 2010. 

Licences to operate the second digital terrestrial multiplex will be issued by the Office with a validity of twenty years, and they shall be commercially linked until 31 December 2011.

All licences to operate these digital terrestrial multiplexes (hereinafter "the licences") shall be assigned to a single digital terrestrial multiplex operator who will provide first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes simultaneously across several frequencies.

 

 

Frequencies

 

The frequencies for the first digital terrestrial multiplex are as follows:

 

Territory of frequency allotment	Channel number
Bratislava BL	66
Trenčín TN	69
Žilina ZA	68
Banská Bystrica BB	65
Veľký Krtíš VK	65
Námestovo NO	68
Bardejov BJ	62
Rimavská Sobota RS	61
Michalovce MI	64
Košice KE	64
Nitra NI
Poprad PP

 

 

 

The frequencies for the second digital terrestrial multiplex are as follows:

 

Territory of frequency allotment	Channel number
Bratislava BL	56
Trenčín TN	56/52
Žilina ZA	52
Banská Bystrica BB	51
Veľký Krtíš VK	60
Námestovo NO	59
Bardejov BJ	40
Rimavská Sobota RS	27
Michalovce MI	59
Košice KE	59
Nitra NI	21
Poprad PP	55

 

 

The technical parameters of the different allotments under which reference territorial coverage is to be ensured for the communication network of the first and second digital territorial multiplexes (hereinafter "the network") are published on the website of the Office at http://www.teleoff.gov.sk/sk/Radiocom/Digi/Ref-pokrytie.html under the name Reference coverage regarding the tender for the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes.

            All these technical parameters are advisory. A submitted bid may propose a different configuration for each network while at the same time complying with the field intensity level on the border of the Slovak Republic. 

 

Purpose of frequency usage, conditions of use, and principles for optimal usage of frequencies

 

The assigned frequencies in the different frequency allotments are to be used for building a network for the provision of a television broadcasting service using the Digital Video Broadcasting – Terrestrial (DVB-T) standard. The network will be built as a Single Frequency Network (SFN) of DVB-T transmitters for each single frequency, using the frequencies set out herein under the section "Frequencies".

Regarding the operation of first and second multiplexes, the Office stipulates the following for optimal frequency usage:

- vertical polarization,

- modulation 64-QAM,

- compression standard MPEG 4,

- code rate 2/3,

- mode 8k,

- guard interval 1/4.

 

 

 

Evaluation criteria and their point values

 

1. the applicant’s ability to build and launch the network of the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes within the deadline, or to ensure that it is constructed through a signal distributor – criterion value: 125 points;
2. transparency and credibility of the financing arrangements for the building or leasing of the network − criterion value: 125 points;                 
3. support for the switchover from the analogue method of signal transmission for television terrestrial broadcasting to the digital method of signal transmission for television terrestrial broadcasting, including obligations in relation to end-users – criterion value: 400 points;
4. the technical solution and speed of network construction for the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes and their population coverage in the Slovak Republic – criterion value: 750 points;
5. the scope of services provided – criterion value: 600 points;
6. the amount of the one-off fee offered for the frequencies allocated for the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes – criterion value: 500 points.                                 

                                              

The submitted bids will be evaluated by a selection committee according to the given criteria. With each of the criteria from 1 to 5, its point value will be equally divided among the five members of the selection committee, appointed by the Chairman of the Office. For each criterion, each member of the committee will use his own expert judgment to decide how many points to allocate to each bid.

When evaluating criterion no.  6 (amount of the one-off fee), points will be allocated to each applicant according to the following formula:

 

 

x_n =  (a_n/c)*b       n = 1,2,..., y

 

x_n – number of points attained by the nth applicant,

a_n – amount of the one-off fee offered by the nth applicant,

c  – total amount of all the one-off fees offered,

y  – total number of applicants,

b  – point value of criterion no. 6

 

The bids will be ranked according to the total number of points attained for all criteria, and the winning bid will be whichever has the highest number of points.

 

In the case that two or more applicants attain the same number of points, the amount offered for the one-off fee will be decisive. If the amounts offered for the one-off fee are also the same, the Office shall invite the applicants in question to increase their offers for the one-off fee within a stipulated deadline. Whoever offers the highest one-off fee will be declared the winner of the tender.   

 

The selection committee will exclude from the tender any tenderer whose bid does not satisfy all of the binding conditions stated herein.   

 

In accordance with Section 32(25)(b) of the Electronic Communications Act, in relation to Section 20 of the Digital Broadcasting Act, the Office shall not award licences to any applicant who does not satisfy the conditions and restrictions laid down in Sections 50 to 52 of the Digital Broadcasting Act.

 

 

Applicants shall submit an application and bid containing the following information:

 

1.   Application:

 

1.1.   the first name, last name and address of the applicant, if a natural person; or the business name and registered office, if a legal person; or the business name and place of business, if an unincorporated business; and the company registration number (IČO) of the natural person or legal person, if assigned;

1.2.   the frequencies requested;

1.3.   the purpose of the frequencies and how they are to be used;

1.4.   the period for which the applicant is seeking a frequency allocation.

 

The application must be signed by a person or persons authorized to act on behalf of the applicant according to the applicant’s entry in the Commercial Register or the Trade Licence Register or another similar register, stating this person(s) first name, last name and position, or by another person authorized to act on behalf of the applicant on the basis of a power of attorney or a delegation. The signature(s) on the bid must be officially certified.

Where an application has been signed under a power of attorney or a delegation by an authorized person who is not the applicant’s statutory body, the application must be accompanied by the original power of attorney or delegation, including the officially certified signature of the principal or the delegating authority.

 

2. Bid:

 

2.1.      the first name, last name and address of the applicant, if a natural person; or the business name and registered office, if a legal person; or the business name and place of business, if an unincorporated business; and the company registration  number (IČO) of the natural person or legal person, if assigned;

This requirement is binding.

 

2.2.      for evaluation criterion no. 1:

a list of countries in which the applicant has built and/or operates or has operated a television transmission network. An applicant who operates/has operated a television transmission network shall submit a confirmation of this fact from the competent authority of the country in which it operates and/or has operated this network. An applicant who has built a television transmission network, but does not operate and has not operated one, shall submit a confirmation from the operator for whom it built the network and a confirmation from the competent authority of the respective country regarding the activities of that operator.  The Office requires applicants to have built and/or to be operating or have operated a television transmission network in at least one country.

   This requirement is binding.

Furthermore, an applicant may in support of this criterion submit agreements concluded with signal distributors and with suppliers of work or technology for network construction, their pledges, and so on.

 

2.3.      for evaluation criterion no. 2:

a)      the estimated amount in Slovak koruny that it will cost to build or lease its network for the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes in accordance with the project submitted in accordance with point 2.5(c) hereunder;

b)      financial statements, including extraordinary statements, for the past three years; an applicant who under Section 19 of Act no. 431/2002 Coll. on Accountancy is required to have its financial statements audited by an auditor, shall submit annual reports as defined in Section 20 of the Accountancy Act (if the applicant has not been operating for more than three years, it shall submit all of its financial statements to date, including extraordinary statements);  

c)      current bank account statements for the three months prior to the month in which this Invitation to Tender was issued.

            The requirements laid down in letters (a) to (c) are binding.

Furthermore, an applicant may in support of this criterion submit reliable documents on own funds and/or external financing for the project which demonstrate the applicant’s financial capacity: for example, bank guarantees, bank commitments or other documents showing sufficient funds for the building and operation of the terrestrial network for DVB-T television transmission.

 

2.4.      for evaluation criterion no. 3: a project to support the switchover from analogue television broadcasting to digital television broadcasting, including a project to support end-user access to digital television equipment as referred to in Section 19(6) of the Digital Broadcasting Act.  

         This requirement is binding.

  

2.5.      for evaluation criterion no. 4:

a)      a time schedule for building the network for the first digital terrestrial multiplex, which will include at least the following:

-         the date when the network for the first digital terrestrial multiplex is to be put into commercial operation, and the percentage population coverage in the Slovak Republic that the multiplex will have when put into commercial operation;

-         the percentage population coverage in the Slovak Republic that the first digital terrestrial multiplex will have within one year after the licences for the  multiplex have entered into force; the Office requires that the population coverage of the multiplex be at least 45% by this date;

-         the percentage population coverage in the Slovak Republic that the first digital terrestrial multiplex will have by 31 July 2011;

-         the percentage population coverage in the Slovak Republic that the first digital terrestrial multiplex will have by 31 December 2012;

b)      a time schedule for building the network for the second digital terrestrial multiplex, which will include at least the following:

-         the date when the network for the second digital terrestrial multiplex is to be put into commercial operation, and the percentage population coverage in the Slovak Republic that the multiplex will have when put into commercial operation;

-         the percentage population coverage in the Slovak Republic that the second digital terrestrial multiplex will have by 31 January 2012;

-         the percentage population coverage in the Slovak Republic that the second digital terrestrial multiplex will have by 31 December 2012;

c)      the project of the technical solution for the first and second digital terrestrial multiplex networks, including arguments in favour of the proposal and a declaration by the applicant that it is interested in providing the digital terrestrial multiplexes simultaneously across several frequencies.

            The requirements laid down in letters (a) to (c) are binding.

 

2.6.      for evaluation criterion no. 5:

an integrated concept of the services provided through the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes, stating separately for each multiplex the dates from when it will be able to provide these services on a commercial basis.  

This requirement is binding.

 

2.7.      for evaluation criterion no. 6: the amount of the offered one-off fee, in Slovak koruny, expressed in figures and words; in the event of any difference between the amount in figures and the amount in words, the amount in words shall be deemed to apply. The minimum amount offered for the frequencies allocated for the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes shall be SKK 50 000 000 (fifty million Slovak koruny).

         This requirement is binding.

 

2.8.   an original or certified copy of the applicant’s entry in the Commercial Register or the Trade Licence Register or a similar register, or another similar document of the applicant’s registration issued by a competent state authority and including an official translation into the Slovak language which is not older than three months; an applicant that is a joint-stock company shall also submit a list of its shareholders who own 5% or more of the share capital, stating each shareholder's  business name, registered office, interest in the share capital, and share of the voting rights.

         This requirement is binding.

 

2.9.      an affirmation of the applicant’s statutory body, including an officially certified signature, stating that the applicant is not a broadcaster in the territory of the Slovak Republic, that it does not have equity or personnel links with an eligible broadcaster holding a nationwide television licence or a nationwide radio licence as defined in Section 24(3)(a) and (b) of the Digital Broadcasting Act, and that no person  with whom it has an equity or personnel link has an equity or personnel link with an eligible broadcaster holding a nationwide television licence or nationwide radio licence. The Office shall look at equity links and personnel links in accordance with Section 54(7) of the Digital Broadcasting Act.

This requirement is binding.

 

2.10.  the original power of attorney or delegation, including the officially certified signature of the principal or the delegating authority, in the event that the bid was signed by an authorized person other than the applicant’s statutory body on the basis of a power of attorney or a delegation.

This requirement is binding.

 

            The bid may not include any reservations of the applicant, nor variant or conditional solutions.

            This requirement is binding.

 

 

      The relevant data and information contained in the winning bid will, under Section 32(19)(f) of the Electronic Communications Act, be included in the licences as obligations assumed by the tenderer in the course of the tender in accordance with Section 32(17) of the Electronic Communications Act.

 

      Formal conditions of the bid:

    

The bid must be signed by a person or persons authorized to act on behalf of the applicant according to the applicant’s entry in the Commercial Register or the Trade Licence Register or another similar register, stating this person(s) first name, last name and position, or by another person authorized to act on behalf of the applicant on the basis of a power of attorney or a delegation. The signature(s) on the bid must be officially certified.

Where bid has been signed under a power of attorney or a delegation by an authorized person who is not the applicant’s statutory body, the bid must be accompanied by the original power of attorney or delegation, including the officially certified signature of the principal or the delegating authority.

 

The application, bid, and all documents and declarations of the applicant must be submitted to the Office in the Slovak language.  

Any documents, declarations or confirmations that the applicant submits in a language other than Slovak must be accompanied by an official translation into Slovak.

All documents, declarations and confirmations submitted by the applicant must be the originals or officially certified copies of them.

     

      The application and bid must be made out in two counterpart copies ensuring a hard copy of its contents and in five electronic copies stored on CD-ROM in file formats compatible with MS Office products or Adobe Reader. The print copy of the application and bid must be produced with a typewriter or computer printer, and its contents must be legibly written in a standard font, with standard formatting, and without any non-standard symbols, abbreviations and information which do not relate to the subject matter of the Invitation to Tender. In the event of any inconsistency between the electronic form and the print form, the print form shall be deemed to apply.

     

      The bid must be broken down into parts in accordance with Section 2 “Bid” of this Invitation. To each part of the bid, the applicant must attach the respective documents, declarations and confirmations. Any documents, declaration and confirmations that are attached to a part other than the part to which they pertain shall not be taken into consideration by the selection committee when it evaluates the bid.

      The application and bid must be firmly bound together in a single unit so that no pages can be inserted or removed.  

 

The application and bid must be placed in an envelope that is closed and sealed, or otherwise protected against accidental opening. The sender’s information on the address side of the envelope must state the first name, last name and address of the applicant, if a natural person; or the business name and registered office of the applicant, if a legal person; or the business name and place of business of the applicant, if an unincorporated business. Designation of the addressee: Telekomunikačný úrad Slovenskej republiky, Továrenská 7, 810 06 Bratislava. The following words must appear prominently on the address side of the envelope: “Tender for the first and second digital terrestrial multiplexes − DVB-T. Not to be opened!”.

 

All of these formal requirements are binding.

 

Until the deadline for submitting applications and bids to the Office has passed, an applicant may supplement, amend or withdraw in writing its submitted application and bid. In order to supplement or amend its application and bid, an applicant must first, in writing, withdraw the application and bid within the deadline for the submission of applications and bids.     

Applications and bids must be delivered to the Office in person or by post not later than 13:30 on 20 November 2008 to the following address: Telekomunikačný úrad Slovenskej republiky, Továrenská 7, 810 06 Bratislava.

Where an applicant delivers the application and bid by post, the applicable date shall be the date of delivery to the Office.

The submission office is open each working day from 08:00 to 11:00 and from 12:00 to 13:30.

 

Expenses related to the preparation of an application and bid and to participation in the tender shall be met by the applicant in full.

 

 The Office shall cancel the tender if within the deadline for submitting bids stated in this Invitation, no bids are submitted or none of the bids that are submitted comply with the conditions laid down herein. The Office reserves the right to cancel the tender in the event of a substantial change in the circumstances that existed when the tender was announced.

 

 

Done at Bratislava on 7 August 2008.

 

 

                                                                  Mgr. Branislav Máčaj, m. p.  

                                                            Chairman of the Telecommunications Office

                                                                             of the Slovak Republic