By Sean Carney
PRAGUE--The Czech unit of Vodafone Plc (VOD) Friday said it
filed a motion to halt the Czech telecommunication regulator's
upcoming auction for frequencies to carry high-speed wireless
services, saying the terms and conditions of the auction are
flawed.
"We don't consider it possible that the current state of the LTE
auction will continue in a fair manner and have a better outcome
than the previous attempt," said Marketa Kuklova, spokeswoman for
the local Vodafone unit.
Vodafone is asking the regulator to adjusts the terms of the
auction and to hold a new one at a later date.
"We expected legal steps against the auction," Jaromir Novak,
chairman of the regulator, said in a statement. "At such a large
tender even abroad is isn't unusual that operators challenge
conditions of the auction in court."
The regulator plans to auction frequencies in the 800 megahertz
band in the second half of November, but has set roughly one third
of available frequencies aside for a hoped-for fourth operator.
That leaves room in the lucrative range only for two of the
three current operators of mobile services.
Earlier this year the regulator started its first auction for
the frequencies, but was forced to cancel it after bids rose to
what it deemed to be unacceptable levels.
In that auction, bidders could make offers and drive prices
higher, but had the option of pull out of the auction at any time
with no penalty even after placing bids.
After an outcry from market participants, the regulator dropped
that option from the planned second auction.
Earlier this month the Czech unit of Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF)
also lodged a legal challenge to the regulator's action terms.
The third current operator is a unit of T-Mobile, the mobile arm
of Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE).
There are two other bidders in the auction, Revolution Mobile
and Sazka Telecommunications, both owned by Czech privately-held
financial companies.
Write to Sean Carney at sean.carney@wsj.com
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