By Leos Rousek
PRAGUE--The Czech telecommunications regulator, or CTU, Thursday
unveiled a new bidding process for mobile radio frequencies to
allow the upgrade of current wireless data networks and a possible
entry of a new cellular operator into the local market.
"We're putting aside dedicated bandwidth to attract a new mobile
company to offer its services here," CTU spokesman Frantisek Malina
said.
The regulator will launch the frequency auction in November and
bidders have until the end of September to register for it, the CTU
said.
The CTU said it will offer 800 megahertz frequencies 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).
All operators, including the incumbents, will be able to bid for
1,800 and 2,600 megahertz bandwidths which are suitable for a
country-wide 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.
In March the CTU suspended its earlier bandwidth frequency
auction when bids climbed to above 20 billion Czech Koruna ($1.03
billion), or nearly three times the minimum bid of CZK7.4 billion
set at the start of the auction.
At the time the regulator said that such prices were too high
and would most likely hamper the entry of a new operator and costs
for upgraded cellular networks would most likely be passed on to
local customers.
Months of consultations with potential bidders on terms preceded
the revised bandwidth auction launch.
Earlier this year, the regulator said it was expecting bids to
be below CZK10 billion koruna for new frequencies.
In recent months two local telecommunications companies--PPF
Mobile Services AS and Dial Telecom AS--have expressed interest in
entering the local cellular market and bidding for the offered
mobile radio frequencies.
PPF Mobile Services is controlled by the privately-held
financial company PPF Group NV, in turn majority owned by Czech
financier Petr Kellner. Dial Telecom, also privately-held, operates
one of the largest fiber optics cable network in the Czech
Republic, offering corporate wired data and voice services.
Neither PPF Mobile Services nor Dial Telecom officials could be
immediately reached to comment.
Write to Leos Rousek at leos.rousek@wsj.com
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