Dutch officials contemplate barring KPN, T-Mobile and Vodafone from spectrum auction

A spectrum auction looms at the horizon within the Netherlands, but three of the country’s largest players could be excluded from participation. As you realize, earlier this week, Dutch authorities raided the offices of KPN Mobile, T-Mobile Netherlands and Vodafone Netherlands in a worth-fixing investigation. The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa), which performed the raid, stressed that its visit doesn’t mean the operators are guilty of collusion or hint on the outcome of its investigation.

Now, Dutch lawmakers and the country’s Minister of commercial Affairs must decide concerning the auction that’s set to turn up within the spring of 2012 — that’s prone to be well ahead of any final report from the NMa. One option tossed around was to postpone the auction, though, as lawmakers indicate, this will hinder the event inside the mobile space and extra limit competition. Alternately, had any of the named companies actually profited from the alleged collusion, there is a risk that these monies can be used to buy additional spectrum and extra extend their dominance. Those discussing the problem hope to head quickly, though it certainly seems difficult to make any decision of this magnitude lightly.

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This post is tagged: competition authority, dutch authorities, dutch lawmakers, economic affairs, limit competition, spectrum auction