Interesting News Technology: Auction LTE: Two blocks of 800 MHz for 3.05 billion went to Orange Poland

Orange Poland also made the top three listings on the blocks of the 2.6 GHz band. Here, the total value of the bids amounted to 117.04 million zł.

The Office of Electronic Communications ended Thursday auction frequencies 800 and 2600 MHz, intended to provide mobile Internet services. The sum of the bids submitted by the participants in the process finally reached 9.23 billion zł, and the most expensive block in the 800 MHz band reached 2.05 billion zł.

The auction of UKE from February participated Orange Poland, Polkomtel, T- Mobile Poland, Play, Emitel, and NetNet (son of the company Polaris Finance BV, a colleague Zygmunt Solorz-Zak). Each of the operators can buy in the procedure up to two blocks of 800 MHz and four blocks in the 2.6 GHz band.

September 24 the minister of administration and digitization Andrzej Halicki signed the decree, which changed the rules of auction LTE. Halicki proposed adding a mechanism end of the auction if no settlement after 115 days of the auction. In such a situation the next day auction conducted another round, which ends the process. In the last round, each participant can submit only one offer.

Some service providers in response to the proposal sent letters to the highest state authorities, indicating that the MAC Regulation may be incompatible with Polish law. One of the owners P4 Polish government has threatened international arbitration.

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The result of the auction of LTE Orange bought two blocks of 800 MHz, and P4, T-Mobile and Netnet one. Of the 2.6 GHz frequency blocks, four bought Polkomtel and P4, and Orange and T-Mobile three – announced on Monday the UKE President Magdalena Gaj.

– This is a very effective allocation of frequencies. I think that the auction ended with a very good result market, is that after all it was – she said at a Monday press conference grove.

The head of the Office of Electronic Communications also emphasized that they do not yet know the timetable for allocation of spectrum, because it depends on the behavior operators in administrative proceedings.

– We would like to have been issued as quickly as possible, but it is rather a matter of months rather than weeks. This may be later this year, but also in the future. Certainly after the elections – she added.

She also added that on Monday held the first meeting with telecommunications operators participating in the auction of LTE. This must be the beginning of the process of allocating specific frequencies for entities selected in a result.

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T-Mobile Poland does not exclude cooperation with other operators in the construction of an LTE network

T-Mobile Poland intends to apply for the auctioned frequencies, does not preclude cooperation with other operators in the construction of LTE 800 MHz – the company said in a communiqué on Monday.

“Of course, we are going to apply for the auctioned frequencies as soon as possible to share Polish consumers to benefit from high-speed data, particularly in areas not covered so far reach of the LTE network. We do not exclude the possibility of cooperation with other operators at construction of 800 MHz LTE network “- written in the message.

T-Mobile has estimated that the high price of the 800 MHz band are a serious burden for operators who now need to allocate substantial funds to build infrastructure.

“We analyze the entire time course of the auction due the adopted questionable legal arrangements. Depending on the results of that analysis and further course of action in the booking process, we reserve the possibility of taking the necessary legal steps “- written in the message.

Orange Poland has submitted the highest offer for two blocks of the 800 MHz band. The total value of the two offers is 3.051 billion zł. After one block won NetNet, P4 and T-Mobile Poland.

Orange Poland made the highest offer three blocks of the 2.6 GHz band. Here, the total value of the bids amounted to 117.04 million zł. In addition, four blocks of 2.6 GHz P4 and Polkomtel won, and three T-Mobile Poland.

Earlier we wrote in Interia:

LTE: Construction of high-speed mobile internet may be delayed

Already eight months last auction for the LTE frequencies. According to experts, raising the price by operators could delay the whole process of building a high-speed mobile internet in Poland and reflect on our pockets.

Extends the auction at the frequency of the LTE

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More than 6.8 billion zł – so much is the total value of the bids in the auction for frequencies of 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz. Auction has lasted eight months and its completion will be possible when the auctioneer will cease to raise the price. The operators did not subside. Experts emphasize that the rapid completion of the auction will be beneficial to all sides of the market.

Ministry of Administration and Digitization completed the public consultation a draft regulation on auction of LTE frequencies. It has to allow rapid conclusion of the auction lasted from February 2015.

– It seems to me that it could have been more precise save him some things. That’s unfortunately the case with us, that officials give a chance to the lawyers into the work and certainly will happen. But it’s important that the regulation is, and if you complete the entire auction process, it will be fine – says the news agency Newseria Andrzej Malinowski, president of the Employers of Poland.

The operators of perseverance bid, because the latter so valuable frequency that the UKE is sale. They do not give ground to rivals, even though it originally talked about lower amounts. Each of them has their own interests, some even extremely divergent. The sum of the amounts declared in the bidding exceeded in the last round 6.8 billion. This means fourfold increase compared to the initial proposals.

– It’s time to finish this case. Before the election, it would be good to make that decision. It is in the interest of all of us, both customers and entrepreneurs – says Andrzej Malinowski.

Experts point out that in theory it’s a good situation for the state budget. The balance of gains and losses may be disadvantageous for the Polish economy. Prolonged auction and dramatically rising prices could delay the process of building a high-speed mobile internet in Poland. It is possible that the game goes to auction lead to the absurd and start the whole process over again.

– The delay points out to us, moreover, as the European Commission – said the President of the Employers of Poland. – I therefore call on behalf of Polish employers and Polish entrepreneurs to end this auction as soon as possible.

Guidelines for Digital Agenda for Europe says that by 2020, all Europeans should be given access to the internet with a capacity of over 30 Mb / s and half of the households – internet speeds of above 100 Mb / s. Without LTE, however, it will be difficult to meet the growing demand for more bandwidth. (Newseria Business)

How do experts stress the BCC, prices in Poland are relatively high compared with the valuation band in auctions in other European countries. Larger amounts auctioned only in Germany, Austria and Italy.

We risk a price war among operators?

Analyst telecommunications market BESI Konrad Księżopolski believes that further stretching the auction of LTE will delay the uprising in Poland high- speed mobile Internet.

– Office of Electronic Communications (organizing the auction) already quite delayed the disposal of the frequency of LTE. Despite this, not so much see the end of the auction, and if the result is somehow controversial, we can expect even greater delays. There is a risk both to challenge and even – though slightly lower – risk of invalidating the auction – warns Księżopolski.

He added that it is difficult to predict the end of the auction, without the knowledge of all telecom resources. In his view, they can bid for a long time, because each of them very dependent on these investments. – Documentation for the competition regulator does not give any instruments to complete it ahead of schedule. It is not known when it will end, because despite the withdrawal of Polkomtel (from auctioning 800 MHz), there is strong pressure telecoms on these frequencies – he said.

In his view, the sum offered by operators for each frequency band, They starting to be high for Polish conditions and begin to approach the amounts achieved in similar auctions in other European countries. Their continued growth, according to him, may adversely affect the pockets of consumers or investors.

– The higher amount for the frequency, the greater the risk that operators will want to move some of these the cost to end customers. It is also possible another scenario, which assumes that despite incurring high costs in the auction, telecoms start a price war with each other for customers.

For consumers it would be cool because spadałyby prices, but from the point of view of the investor on the stock exchange or the owners of such companies, the situation could make uninteresting – announced earlier Księżopolski.

According to him, the scenario “price war” took place after the last auction frequencies in France. – The Polish market has already shown that is similar to the French, because such risk can not be ruled out. Księżopolski does not rule out that he could repeat the scenario of the Czech auction of LTE, where the auction reached such high amounts, it annulled the national regulator. This in turn creates a great risk of legal appeal against such a decision.

The opposite view on how the auctions claimed the UKE President Magdalena Gaj before the holidays. – Auction is not stalled, the date of its commencement and completion is determined by law. The entities participating in the auction bid still, so the process is underway. Looking today on the course of the auction and reached the amount, I can only conclude that each of the operators depends on the capture frequency, and thus the construction of the network – announced grove.

She said that does not surprise her commitment telecoms in the fight for frequency. – LTE frequencies available for purchase in the auction, allow you to build a network and it is obvious that without them in the future it will be difficult to sustain in the market. Therefore, the fight is long, and none of the participants did not want to fall off. (…) Such an opportunity will not happen again soon – he said earlier grove.

UKE also believes that compared to similar procedures in other countries, Poland auction “somehow does not take a particularly long time”, but also It is counting on the speedy conclusion. – The process associated with the distribution of scarce goods, which are frequencies, especially those that can be used to build nationwide networks, requires time. Looking at the above, and taking into account the experience of other countries of the auction process and believe in the maturity of the main participants in the Polish telecommunications market, the process should end soon – indicated grove.

Gaj not also agree with the notion of high sums for frequency. – As of today, 1 MHz per capita would cost 0.47 euros in Europe range was from 0.40 to 0.80 euros. Of course it can not be applied in a simple way value per capita of individual countries, but looking at the same time on monthly service revenue per subscriber (ARPU), the situation auction in Poland is the most correct – she said.

The frequencies, which Auction concerns are of particular importance for the development of broadband Internet. Both ranges are complementary. It is particularly important band in the bands 800 MHz, released in July 2013. Due to the shutdown of analog TV, since these frequencies are well suited to build superfast LTE internet – allow, among others, on rare arrangement of masts, which lowers investment costs. Frequency of 2.6 GHz spectrum well suited for compaction network coverage in the cities. (PAP)