The Polish telecoms regulator has cancelled its planned LTE spectrum auction, saying it wants to eliminate any doubt concerning the procedure.
The move follows a petition from Polkomtel, operator of the Plus mobile network, to call off the auction of…
The Polish telecoms regulator has cancelled its planned LTE spectrum auction, saying it wants to eliminate any doubt concerning the procedure.
The move follows a petition from Polkomtel, operator of the Plus mobile network, to call off the auction of exclusive frequency licences in the 791-816 MHz, 832-857 MHz, 2,500-2,570 MHz and 2,620-2,690 MHz bands, due to lack of transparency.
Commenting on the cancellation of the auction, Magdalena Gaj, president of the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE), said: “Our obligation as a regulatory authority is to ensure that all market players may conduct their business in a stable and certain environment.”
Noting that the auction process and documentation were prepared in line with legal requirements, Gaj however said that “technical problems” with accessing documents could have resulted in an uncertain outcome.
The auction notice was published in late December and initial bids were due by 13 February. Potential auction participants were entitled to request clarification from the UKE on the auction process by 6 February.
But the regulator said technical hitches prevented them from being able to access replies for a two-and-a-half hour period that day. As such, the UKE decided to postpone the deadline for initial bids until 14 February.
The regulator said participants’ reactions to the postponement, along with its determination to maintain stability, transparency and certainty, led to the cancellation.
The UKE said it has started work on a new auction schedule. The first notice is set to be published within the next few days.
On Monday, Polkomtel called upon the Polish state to take control of the auction, arguing that UKE processes have lacked transparency. The Warsaw-based operator said it had written to the regulator about its concerns, which include contentions that rivals Orange Polska and T-Mobile Polska have not been open about “the true extent of [their] cooperation”. Orange and T-Mobile have a network sharing agreement, which they extended last September to include 4G technology.
