By Margit Feher
BUDAPEST--Hungary's telecommunication regulator NMHH published
Friday a draft tender to sell various broadband spectrum licenses
in a bid to boost competition on the telecommunications market and
help its development.
Hungary plans to offer the unused parts of the 800, 900, 1,000
and 2,600 Megahertz frequencies as well as the unused part of the
26 MHz frequency, the NMHH said in a statement.
The sale of the licenses may help increase competition,
accelerate the development of broadband coverage, the spread of
modern wireless services, and lead to competitive consumer prices,
the NMHH said.
The tender format may attract bidders who otherwise couldn't
apply for the licenses were they auctioned and only the price
offered were taken into account when choosing the winners, the NMHH
added.
The telecom authority is ready to receive positions, suggestions
and other comments to the draft from potential bidders by Dec.
20.
The government expects to collect between 120 billion forints
and 150 billion forints ($544.4 million and $680.4 million) from
the sale in the 2014 budget.
Hungary already extended in September the mobile frequency
contracts of the three telecom providers active in Hungary until
April 2022. The three mobile phone companies operating in Hungary
are Norway's Telenor ASA (TEL.OS), the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC
(VOD), and Magyar Telekom Nyrt. (MTELEKOM.BU), which is
majority-owned by Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE).
The frequency contract extension will generate a total of about
100 billion forints ($453.6 million) in revenues for Hungary's
state budget by 2022.
Write to Margit Feher at margit.feher@wsj.com
