By Sean Carney
PRAGUE--The Czech telecommunications regulator, or CTU, Monday
said it has set new parameters for an auction of mobile radio
frequencies that could lead to a fourth cellular operator entering
the local market.
"The goal is to support the development of high-speed mobile
internet networks of the fourth generation, intensify competition,
support the entrance of a new mobile operator and improve the
quality of mobile services," the CTU said.
The period of consulting with potential bidders will last
through May 8, the regulator said, adding that in June it will
likely announce the deadline for interested parties to submit
offers.
The regulator now expects bids to be below 10 billion koruna
($505.5 million).
The CTU last month suspended an earlier version of this auction
when bids climbed to above CZK20 billion, or nearly three-fold of
the minimum bid of CZK7.4 billion set at the start of the
auction.
Such high sums would force operators to recoup investment by
increasing costs to end-users, which runs against the goals of the
competition, the regulator said.
The CTU said it will now offer 800 megahertz frequencies, the
most lucrative of available bandwidths, exclusively to new
operators to boost competitiveness on the market, which is now
dominated by three operators: the local units of Telefonica SA
(TEF), of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE) and of Vodafone Group PLC
(VOD).
The bandwidth auction aims to speed up the roll-out of new
high-speed mobile networks with long-term evolution technology, or
LTE, the successor to third-generation, or 3G, mobile data
services.
Write to Sean Carney at sean.carney@wsj.com
Go to http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/ for the WSJ blog on
Central and Eastern Europe, covering business, politics, society
and more, written by our correspondents across the region.
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires