Hungary to Publish Spectrum License Tender End-April

By Veronika Gulyas

BUDAPEST--Hungary's telecommunication regulator NMHH will publish the tender announcement for broadband spectrum licenses at the end of April, it said Tuesday.

The authority originally planned to publish the tender at the end of last year but decided to negotiate the tender conditions with the participants of the sector, the authority told The Wall Street Journal in an e-mailed response.

NMHH has so far only published a draft tender to sell various broadband spectrum licenses, in a bid to boost competition on the telecommunications market and help development.

The authority is also considering extending the broadband spectrum licenses to 20 years compared with the 15 years planned earlier.

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 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.

Last September 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).

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

Write to Veronika Gulyas at [e-mail]