Eleven companies have indicated their interest in the forthcoming GSM1800 spectrum auction - reports the local Dnevnik newspaper, citing the telecoms regulator. The regulator declined to name the interested companies due to a policy of not naming parties which have submitted non-binding letters.

The regulator, the CRC did say that it would shortly identify those companies which had purchased tender documents though and the newspaper said that sources had indicated that a UK and a Finnish company are amongst the interested bidders.

Local landline operators, Max Telecom, Transtelecom and Carrier BG along with Turkey's Turkcell are tipped to be among the more likely potential bidders. The three incumbent mobile operators have indicated that they will not bid for the spectrum.

The country already has four operators - although only three are operational, and according to figures from the Mobile World database, their market shares are: Globul (38%), MobilTEL (51%) and BTC Mobile (10%). The market itself is saturated with a population penetration level which reaches 137%.