Telefonica and Liquid Broadband are going to court over this summer's auction of spectrum in the 700 MHz band, complaining that the rules are anti-competitive, and seeking to have them changed, according to WirtschaftsWoche magazine on its website. Potential bidders have until 15:00 hrs on 06 March to submit application documents to the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur, BNetzA or BNA). WirtschaftsWoche said it was likely that the only participants would be the three established mobile phone providers, namely Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone Deutschland and Telefonica Deutschland.
WirtschaftsWoche said it has learned that Liquid Broadband and Telefonica Germany submitted documents to Cologne Administrative Court, claiming that the auction process is discriminatory and anti-competitive. Liquid said it plans not to bid in the auction but intends its complaint to lead to a renewed auction process. The company claims the rules allow the three incumbents to submit much higher bids, thereby shutting out newcomers. Liquid has proposed that part of the spectrum should be set aside for new entrants, but BNetzA has rejected this idea.
Telefonica Germany's own complaint is against part of the revenue from the auction being used as Broadband Billions, to subsidise fibre optic broadbroad development in currently under-served rural regions. It says this means Deutsche Telekom in particular would get some of its auction payment back in the form of fibre subsidies. Telefonica says this affects bidders' behaviour and leads to a distortion of competiion. The operator had already made this objection during the hearing, backed by documentation, but BNetzA had declined to make an alterations.
