Prague Court Rejects T-Mobile’s Challenge To 5G Auction

The Municipal Court in Prague has rejected T-Mobile’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would stop the auction of frequencies for 5G networks due to illegal support. The court did not find any competition issues in national roaming conditions.

“We do not want to comment on the requests for interim measures submitted to us and on one specific court decision,” Jiří Janeček, a T-Mobile spokesperson, said.

Vodafone also challenged the auction in a lawsuit in the municipal court. And O2 lodged a complaint with the European Commission.

According to the operators, the conditions of the competition are discriminatory, especially when it comes to national roaming. They are also bothered by the small maximum frequency allocation in the 3.4 to 3.6 GHz band, which is the lowest in Europe and does not allow gigabit speeds.

The CTU revised the auction conditions three times but did not take into account the companies’ objections. At the beginning of August, he announced an auction. According to him, the goal is to bring a fourth operator that would stir up the market and help reduce mobile data prices. Applicants can apply until the end of September.

According to an earlier statement, CTU spokeswoman Barbora Havelková is a step that operators are attacking the auction conditions. An action they have taken in the past, and the announced tender process was not affected in any way.

The CTU will offer in the auction frequencies in the 700 MHz band released after the transition of TV broadcasting to DVB-T2 and then the 3.4-3.6 GHz band. The auction part itself should take place in the autumn. 5G networks offer new services requiring high speed and fast response. Speeds are ten times faster than the current LTE technology.

Existing operators are already testing 5G. O2 launched a commercial 5G in Prague and Kolín in the summer, Vodafone is preparing to do so in five cities in October, and T-Mobile will test 5G on the VŠB campus in Ostrava.