Poland’s Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) has decided to cancel a frequency auction, citing that “stability and legal certainty are the supreme values”.
In a statement, the regulator says that the auction, for general exclusive frequency licences in the 791-816 MHz and 832-857 MHz bands, as well as in the 2500-2570 MHz and in the 2620-2690 MHz band for the entire country, to provide mobile or fixed services, was taken due to its “concern for ensuring stability and legal certainty as well as eliminating any possible doubts of formal and legal nature that may accompany the auction procedure.”
According to Magdalena Gaj, president of the UKE, “The auction process itself as well as the accompanying documentation were prepared correctly and in accordance with the provisions of law.
“My obligation as a regulatory authority is to ensure that all market players may conduct their business in stable and certain environment. The least desired scenario would be the one in which, due to technical problems with access to the attachments with clarifications of the auction documentation during 2.5 hours at night, the auction participants were exposed to the risk of questioning the decisions taken after the auction.”
The UKE says that the auction process will start from the beginning.
It has already started to work on a new schedule for the procedure, with the first step in the process being to publish the auction documentation for consultations with all interested parties.
The relevant notice will be published within the next few days.
