Orange Jordan looks to renew its 2G licence for five years

AMMAN — Orange Jordan on Tuesday said it started talks with the government to renew its second generation (2G) licence for five years instead of 15 years.

“The price the government set for renewing the 2G licence for 15 years was very high and illogical… now we are looking into alternatives and are in talks with the government,” Orange Jordan CEO Jean-François Thomas told The Jordan Times.

The two sides are expected to agree on a price for renewing the 2G licence for five years in the next few days, he said.

Last month, the government set JD156.4 million as the fee for renewing Orange Mobile’s 2G licence for 15 years, but the company protested and said it was “too high”.

The company claimed that the amount was set without thorough studies, but the government said at the time that the amount was set based on objective studies.

Orange Mobile’s licence expires May 8.

“We do not think we will need 2G for a very long time; five years time is reasonable as in some other countries the usage of 2G stopped already,” Thomas said.

He added that the company will seriously consider applying for fourth generation (4G) licence by the end of this year.

Zain Jordan has already obtained a 4G licence and is expected to launch the service during the last quarter of this year.