Magyar Telekom, Telenor, Vodafone OK To Bid For Hungary Mobile Spectrum

Hungary's media authority Monday named four companies that may bid for mobile spectrum at an auction set to be completed in January.

The authority accepted the registration of the three mobile companies that currently operate in Hungary: Norway's Telenor ASA (TEL.OS), the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) and Magyar Telekom Nyrt. (MTELEKOM.BU), which is owned by Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE).

It also allowed bidding for a newcomer, a consortium of state-owned companies the postal services Magyar Posta Zrt., the local power firm MVM Zrt. and a unit of the Hungarian development bank MFB.

The authority excluded Romanian broadband cable operator RCS & RDS SA (RCSS.LN) and Vietnamese mobile network operator Viettel Group because of shortfalls in their registrations to participate.

RCS & RDS failed to meet a requirement concerning market regulator fees, and Viettel Group's registration contained "several serious formal deficiencies that couldn't be corrected", the authority said.

The bidding for 10.8 megahertz of unused spectrum in the 900 MHz band will start Jan. 5, and is expected to be completed Jan. 31. Participants may win no more than a combined 7.8 MHz in the band.

-By Veronika Gulyas, Dow Jones Newswires; +361-267-0623; veronika.gulyas@dowjones.com

Telenor ASA (QX) (USOTC:TELNY)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024