Czech telecommunication office to launch auction for 5G frequencies network in November

Czech telecommunication office to launch auction for 5G frequencies network in November
Czechia wants to attract a fourth mobile phone provider to boost competition, lower high prices / wiki
By nto in Prague March 1, 2019

Czech telecommunication office (CTU) plans to launch auction for 5G frequencies network in November this year, to attract a fourth operator and boost competition, Reuters reported on February 27. A call for tender is planned to start in summer.

Being in the final stage of planning, CTU has sent the main auction schedule to the government. The government is to discuss the auction setup before launching public consultations in April.

CTU Chairman Jaromir Novak told Reuters that the auction would be considered a success if it managed to attract a fourth operator to the Czech market to join current providers O2 Czech Republic, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

According to the Point Topic´s analysis, Czechs pay the most in Europe for one gigabyte of downloaded data through LTE mobile network. On average, it costs $6.5 per gigabyte of downloaded data. Compared to the monthly payment for LTE on the domestic market, the Czech Republic is in the 11th place among 30 European countries, with an average of about $37. The Czech Republic also has the third lowest volume of data offered under the tariff.

“The time is changing, and I am not sure Czech operators realise it. … When you compare prices across Europe, you really see people are starving for data in the Czech Republic,” Novak added.

In February, the mobile operator T-Mobile in the Czech Republic announced that it increased its EBITDA operating profit by 5.6% to CZK11.44bn (€444.53) in 2018. Its revenues rose by 0.7% to CZK27.23bn (€1.06). In 3Q18, O2 telecommunications provider´s net profit went up by 2.5% to CZK4.22bn (€162mn). Total consolidated revenues reported a 1.1% y/y growth, reaching CZK28.21bn (€1.1bn) in 9M18 due to increase in the number of O2 TV service users.

 

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