Czech-mate: The 4G auction is back to action


Posted on August 17, 2013  /  0 Comments

Governments, in general, are disgustingly infamous for despicable greed. They are notoriously addicted to the lust for windfall from auctioning spectrum. ČESKÝ TELEKOMUNIKA ČNÍÚŘAD or CTU, is the regulator of the Czech Republic. It stays away from the endemic of greed. Early this year, it stunned the world by aborting an auction of 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2.6GHz spectrum for excessive – yes EXCESSIVE – bid price. CTU chief, Pavel Dvorak, told Reuters:

When announcing the conditions in the first half of last year, we stressed that the main motivation of the auction was the quick availability of a 4G network for Czech citizens and the possible entry of a fourth operator – never about profits for the state.

We covered it with, admittedly, a great deal of pleasant surprise.

Now the CTU is back to business. It will resume the auction for so called 4G licenses in November. And a new operator will be allowed, as the government wants to boost competition. September 30, 2013 is the deadline to join this race.

Existing three operators – Telefonica Czech Republic, T-Mobile and Vodafone – hate to see another competitor. They have threatened legal action and T-Mobile even complained to the European Commission. But CTU said that the EU have trashed T-Mobile’s letter.

The temperature in Prague varies between 0°C to 5°C during November. Yet, some people will sweat at that time. Welcome to the different world!

Comments are closed.