Sweden begins 5G auction despite Huawei protests

Sweden’s communications regulator began its delayed auction of 5G-suitable frequencies, a move Huawei warned last week would have serious consequences as the vendor still had outstanding legal action contesting its ban.

In a statement, the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) said its auction for licences in the 3.5GHz band started today (19 January) with a 2.3GHz sale to follow. It is auctioning 320MHz of 3.5GHz spectrum and 80MHz of 2.3GHz.

The start of the sale comes days after Huawei lost its latest appeal related to the imposition of auction conditions which ban bidding operators using equipment from it or rival ZTE.

Huawei has two other pieces of legal action on the issue outstanding.

In a comment to Mobile World Live issued on 15 January following the failure of its latest appeal, a Huawei representative confirmed its “two main” court cases on the issue were not expected to be ruled on until the end of April.

The company added: “It leads to serious consequences to hold the 5G auction while the conditions for PTS decisions are subject to legal review.”

Sweden’s spectrum auction was originally meant to take place in November 2020, but was postponed after a court suspended the application some of the divisive terms of sale pending a hearing into them.

PTS’ terms were subsequently cleared by the court of appeal, opening the way for the auction to proceeded.