Hungary Calls Tender for 20-Year Broadband Mobile Concessions

By Margit Feher

BUDAPEST--Hungary's telecommunications regulator NMHH called a tender Thursday to sell various broadband spectrum licenses in a bid to boost competition and speed development in the telecoms market.

Hungary plans to pocket a minimum of 104 billion forints ($468.7 million) from the sale of the concessions, the NMHH said.

Hungary is offering the unused parts of the 800, 900, 1,800 and 2,600 Megahertz frequencies as well as the unused part of the 26 MHz frequency, the NMHH said in a news release. The 800 and the 2,600 MHz frequencies are being made available for the first time. Bidders may submit their bids on June 16.

The winners will be entitled to use the frequencies until 2034, the NMHH said. That date indicates the telecom authority has extended the concession from the originally planned 15 years.

"The concessions provide a sufficiently wide option for the providers to plan and the length of the concession may increase their willingness to invest while also reduces the investors' risks," the NMHH said.

The authority has between 45 and 150 days to announce the winner after the tender is called.

In September 2013, Hungary already extended 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).

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