Austria’s 4G auction, originally scheduled to take place this autumn, is facing a further delay by another year.
Georg Serentschy, president of Austrian regulator RTR, estimated that an auction of spectrum in the 800MHz, 900MHz, and 1800MHz band is…
Austria’s 4G auction, originally scheduled to take place this autumn, is facing a further delay by another year.
Georg Serentschy, president of Austrian regulator RTR, estimated that an auction of spectrum in the 800MHz, 900MHz, and 1800MHz band is now more likely to happen around September 2013, rather than during the summer months already.
In April, the Telecoms Control Commission (TKK), a sub-committee of the RTR, had scrapped the original 2012 auction date in light of consolidation among operators in Austria. It said at the time the delay was expected to be “moderate.”
The TKK said in April it wanted to wait for the outcome of the proposed sale of Orange Austria to Hutchison 3G by France Telecom and the parallel sale of no frills brand YESSS! to Telekom Austria. Both transactions are still subject to clearance by antitrust regulators in Austria and Brussels respectively.
The TKK noted at the time that, depending on the outcome of the transactions, at least one of the three operators involved in the Orange situation might be excluded from bidding under current auction rules.
This in turn could violate one of the main goals of the auction rules, which is to ensure healthy competition among all players, the TKK argued.
