Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Technology, Telecomunications

In April, the Technical Supervision Board declared a public contest for three frequency permits in the 790–862 MHz range.

Four Estonian telecommunications companies were interested in them: AS EMT, Tele2 Eesti AS and Elisa Eesti AS (which competed at the so-called beauty contest for the first permit for the 4G network, expressing readiness to participate at the bidding for the 2nd and 3rd permit if they fail to get the first) and AS Starman (which was interested in only in the third frequency permit to strengthen its ZUUM-digiTV).

AS EMT won the first frequency permit, paying 1 mln euros to the state for it. The initial price for the 2nd and 3rd permits was set at 1.567 million euros. The second permit cost the winner Elisa 5.2 million euros. Hence the state gained over 6 mln euros instead of the expected 4 mln with the first two permits.

Currently the bidding for the third permit is under way, for which Tele2 and Starman compete. The state hopes that by competing, the two will boost the initial price of 1.567 to more than triple the amount since the state budget of next year counts on 5 mln euros.

Tele2 Eesti, which has already withdrawn from competition at 5 mln euros, said that "Tele2 is a low-cost operator whose aim is to get the permit as cheap as possible."

Starman's manager Peeter Kern said that they don’t wish to reveal the upper limit of the bid in the press.

The results of the auction will be revealed at the beginning of next year.