According to Dzurilla, the auction will move the market one hundred percent. In addition to the expected arrival of a fourth operator in the 3500 MHz spectrum, it can also ensure that local providers become nationwide players thanks to national roaming.
“When we look at the annual dividends of individual operators, we see that there is room (for discounts). And it’s just about what new player sets the strategy. And certainly everyone who comes up with a new offer must be attractive to customers who are satisfied with their existing offer, “said Dzurilla.
According to Dzurilla, the Czech market has moved a lot to the first quarter of the cheapest countries in comparison with tariffs with unlimited data, but lags more behind in lower offers with ten or 20 GB of data per month.
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According to the vice-chairman of the House Economic Committee Martin Jiránek (Pirates), with the current setting of auction conditions, however, a situation may arise where one new nationwide operator does not come, but several rather local players who take away its market potential and fail. But Dzurilly thinks that this situation is not imminent. According to him, either a strong fourth operator will come, or local players will participate, to whom the acquired frequencies and national roaming will help them grow and strengthen.
However, Jiránek mentioned two examples in this context. Firstly, Italy, where, according to him, a big strong fourth operator came and prices fell by tens of percent in a few months. But then, on the other hand, Slovakia, where a small fourth operator came in 2013, but was just dependent on national roaming (ie the use of networks already created by large operators).
“And the big three that are there, of course, were legally defended, and now after seven years the fourth operator has less than ten percent of customers, the prices are good, almost half smaller than the big three, but due to the fact that there are various legal problems with national roaming, so he could not drag customers. And we are really in danger of the fact that around national roaming, around setting the price, it can really end in such a way that if the big fourth does not come and build an independent network, the new little ones really can’t move the market so much, “warns Jiránek.
“Slovakia is a beautiful example, nothing has changed there in seven years. If you subtract the tiny operator that is there now, and you only take the three big ones, they are actually still on the same level as us, one of the most expensive countries in Europe, “he adds.
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The auction of frequencies in the 700 and 3400-3600 MHz bands should take place by the end of the year, operators can report by the end of September. In addition to the existing operators O2, T-Mobile and Vodafone, there is talk of the interest of other companies, such as ČEZ, Sazka Mobil, Nordic Telecom or Poda. O2 has already challenged the terms of the auction with the European Commission, and T-Mobile and Vodafone are also considering legal action.
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