Austria to Hold Its Biggest Ever Spectrum Auction This Fall

Austria’s telecommunications regulator will hold the biggest sale of radio frequencies in the nation’s history this year in an auction that mobile operators say is too complex.

The auction of 28 frequency blocks of 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz spectrum will take place in September, the regulator, TKK, said. Minimum bids will be 526 million euros ($680 million) in total, it said. “The maximization of revenue is not a goal of the frequency auction,” Vienna-based TKK said a document posted on its website. It will be designed as a “combinatory clock auction,” which has been used in similar sales in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Ireland and Great Britain, TKK said. The auction design has drawn criticism from operators, who say it can lead to irrationally high prices.