News
Regulator aims to make 5 MHz of spectrum rejected by winner Netnet commercially available as soon as possible.
Two months after it announced the results of its LTE auction, the Polish telecoms regulator is still working on the allocation of spectrum due to the withdrawal of licence winner Netnet, but according to local press reports it is hopeful of resolving the situation in the next month or soon afterwards.
Magdalena Gaj, head of Poland’s Office of Electronic Communications, known locally as UKE, told the Polish Press Agency that she is keen to bring the process to a close as soon as possible and make the frequencies won by Netnet commercially available.
The regulator wants to make it happen by the end of April or mid-May at the latest, Gaj said.
Netnet won one 5 MHz block of 800-MHz spectrum in last year’s auction, agreeing to pay 2.05 billion zloty (€484 million), but has since reneged on the deal.
According to the Polish Press Agency report, under the auction guidelines, the aforementioned spectrum should be sold to the second-highest bidder in that block, which in this case was T-Mobile. However, T-Mobile would prefer to swap frequencies with another winner, P4, which picked up spectrum neighbouring T-Mo’s existing holdings. P4 is reportedly disinclined to trade, claiming that such a move would incur legal risks.
Gaj said the regulator has a possible solution to the problem, but declined to comment further at this stage.
