Russia’s four main mobile operators will take part in the auction of 1800-MHz spectrum due to take place next week, the regulator announced on Tuesday.
Roscomnadzor said it has processed applications from MTS, Vimpelcom, MegaFon and Tele2, and all four will be able to participate in the auction.
It also revealed that the auction will be carried out electronically.
In July the regulator announced that the auction of airwaves in the 1710-1785 MHz and 1805-1880 MHz bands will take place on 29 September, and shared reserve prices for the available frequencies.
The state is selling off spectrum in nine regions and has divided the bandwidth into 10 lots, all at different price points.
The lowest starting price is half a million roubles (just under €8,000 at July exchange rates) for 1 MHz of paired spectrum in the Komi-Permyak Okrug of Perm Krai, while 15 MHz of spectrum in the republic of Dagestan starts at RUB240.4 million (€3.8 million).
There are no restrictions on what type of mobile services the spectrum can be used for. While the 1800 MHz band was previously set aside for voice communications, Roscomnadzor expects the winning bidders in this auction will use the frequencies for LTE.
