Magyar Telekom, the Hungarian subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is launching a legal bid to overturn the result of a recent auction of 900-MHz spectrum in the country.
The operator claims the sale of a 10.8-MHz block of unused spectrum is riddled with legal errors and that regulator – the National Media and Infocommunications Authority (NMHH) – was wrong to allocate spectrum to a consortium comprising Magyar Posta, MFB Invest, and Magyar Villamos Művek.
Legal action is necessary after the NMHH rejected an appeal against the award to the consortium by Magyar Telekom and other operators that won blocks of the available spectrum in the December auction, the carrier claims.
The firm has asked local courts to annul the consortium’s position as a winner in the sale, and suspend the enforcement of some conditions of the auction.
Magyar Telekom won a 15 year license to utilize two duplex frequency blocks of 1-MHz each, and must still pay the agreed price of 10.9 billion Hungarian Forints (€37.1 million) regardless of the outcome of the court action.