Austria’s administrative court has denied requests from both T-Mobile Austria and rival Hutchison’s 3 Austria to suspend the recent €2bn LTE auction results. This means the companies will need to pay for the spectrum they applied for in October, a…
Austria’s administrative court has denied requests from both T-Mobile Austria and rival Hutchison’s 3 Austria to suspend the recent €2bn LTE auction results.
This means the companies will need to pay for the spectrum they applied for in October, a spokesperson for 3 confirmed. T-Mobile bid €654m (US$883.7m) for 4G spectrum, while H3G bid €330m (US$445.9m).
However the case it still ongoing as T-Mobile and 3, number two and three respectively in Austria, have also applied to the country’s constitutional court for a review of the legality of the auction process. It is unclear when a decision is expected.
Until then, the 3 spokesperson said there will be legal uncertainties for players looking to roll out 4G using their existing frequencies and additional spectrum to be refarmed soon.
The two companies had previously indicated intentions to appeal to the administrative and constitutional courts and called for a new auction, citing flaws in the original procedure which led to higher prices.
Telekom Austria has decided not to join peers in appealing against the results. A spokesperson for the incumbent, which bid €1.03bn for half of the available frequencies, confirmed earlier this month it will not file an appeal so as not to jeopardise the development of its LTE network.
