Brazil's telecoms regulator Anatel plans to relaunch "as soon as possible" an auction for 3.5GHz and 10GHz spectrum licenses to provide WiMax services, newspapers reported Brazil's communications minister Hélio Costa as saying.
According to Costa, the watchdog needed to address certain issues concerning the bidding rules, which led Brazil's federal accounts court TCU to order Anatel to suspend the auction last September.
TCU said the bidding rules contained irregularities such as the use of an outdated exchange rate that could have led to a possible loss of 23mn reais (US$10mn) for the Brazilian state.
The bidding rules also excluded the major fixed line operators from competing for licenses in areas where they have existing concessions contracts, an issue that led to a court confrontation between Anatel and the operators.
Brasília's regional federal tribunal finally ruled in favor of the operators in September 2006 asking Anatel to make the necessary adjustments to the bidding rules to allow them to participate, an issue that Anatel is still contesting in court.
Finally the TCU suspended the auction altogether.
"First and foremost, we are committed to creating conditions to launch the new licenses as fast as possible, because we have already been waiting various months for a decision," news service Agência Estado reported Costa as saying."
Posted to the site on 3rd April 2007
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/22966.php