The Czech Telecommunication Office adjusted the conditions of the frequency auction for 5G networks in June this year. However, it must be emphasized that this was not the first change, but a repeated one. According to the original plan, the operators had a month to send their comments in a newly announced public consultation.
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Almost immediately, Vodafone began protesting against the change in conditions. “We see the settlement of the consultation and the resulting new form of conditions, including the reservation of frequencies, as a fundamental change in the concept of the auction, the third in the last few months. Vodafone has strongly disagreed with the previous draft of conditions, which are unfounded and in many respects unprecedentedly deviate from regulatory practice in Europe, without changing the new conditions. The new conditions will further deepen the negative signals for investments in high-capacity, reliable and resilient mobile networks that our country needs, “said operator spokesman Ondřej Luštinec.
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“Non-standard auction conditions will discourage operators, even a potential newcomer, from making the necessary investments in 5G in rural areas. The benefits of mobile networks have been clearly demonstrated by the current coronavirus crisis, and digitization will undoubtedly be one of the accelerators of the economic recovery that will be so necessary in the coming period. The conditions of the auction will most likely cause the Czech Republic to lag behind in building 5G networks, which also lags behind in the digitization of the economy in comparison with developed EU countries. In the end, all this will be to the detriment of consumers, entrepreneurs and companies in particular, “added Luštinec.
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The situation culminated even more when O2 filed a complaint with the European Commission this week over the terms of the upcoming auction. “The key for us is to eliminate retroactivity, prevent the possibility of speculative behavior during the auction and increase allocations so that we can build a real gigabit company in accordance with government strategy and European standards,” O2 spokeswoman Lucie Jungmannová told ČTK.
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According to the statement, O2 sees no reason why entities that will not participate in the auction should be entitled to national roaming on all frequencies of existing operators. According to the draft conditions, entities that obtained cheap 3700 MHz frequencies in the last auction should be entitled to so-called national roaming.
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However, the CTU representatives do not yet intend to respond to the complaints at all. “The Czech Telecommunication Office is currently settling all comments received on the draft text of the Tender Announcement for the purpose of granting rights to use radio frequencies for the provision of electronic communications networks in the 700 MHz and 3400-3600 MHz frequency bands. The deadline for their settlement is 7 August, so the Office will not comment on any of the comments raised at this stage, “says the official statement of the Office.
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“The Office has not yet been informed of the above-mentioned complaint by O2 by the European Commission and cannot therefore comment on it at present,” the representatives of the CTU added.
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