Two companies have submitted their tenders for the 450 MHz frequency, while as for the 26 GHz bundles, one company has applied for bundle ‘D’ and two submitted tenders for bundle ‘E’.

The authority is expected to release further information concerning the bidders in a few days following their registration, i.e. once it has verified the bidders’ compliance with formal requirements.

According to the invitation to tender, incumbent mobile service providers and enterprises belonging to the same corporate group, companies directly or indirectly owned by the Hungarian state and service providers with spectrum utilization rights for the 3,5GHz frequency are excluded from the 450 MHz Tender. Bundle ‘D’ was open to all bidders, and for bundle ‘E’ tenders were invited from all applicants except the three incumbent mobile service providers.

Altogether, the NHH put out tenders for seven frequency bundles on October 22 with the intention of boosting competition on the mobile telephone market and improving broadband internet coverage.

The tenders for four of the bundles available for bidding, namely, frequency bundle ‘A’, which allows GSM/UMTS mobile service providers to enter the market, and packages ‘C’, ‘F’ and ‘G’ announced for the 26 GHz frequency, which will be inseparable from the former during the evaluation process, are to be submitted on December 12.

The successful bidder of the GSM/UMTS block will be entitled to provide services at a set of frequencies similar to that used by the three existing mobile service providers, as opposed to the 450 MHz Tender which is planned to grant a new service provider access to the market whose services would primarily improve the wireless broadband internet coverage of sparely settled areas and communities. The 26 GHz frequency bandwidth may play an important role in the development of internal structures of mobile service providers and other market players as well as other market actors or large corporations, and may contribute to the significant growth of domestic wireless broadband internet coverage in Hungary.