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Vodafone admits that depending on the rules to be determined for the fifth generation auction, it may not come into play.
According to the Vodafone CEO for Europe, he told Reuters that he considers it possible to establish discriminatory and illegal rules. It may not go to the auction, even threatening to rethink investments in Portugal.
“There is significant and unjustified discrimination against long-standing operators, such as Vodafone, and we are forced to reconsider all our options in Portugal, including bidding for less spectrum or not bidding, if the auction is so flawed,” Serpil Timuray said in a interview with Reuters. It criticizes, and considers illegal, the different norms provided for in the draft regulation for new entrants.
“The reservation of spectrum for new entrants will create additional scarcity for current operators, increase the cost of implementation and reduce the appetite for investment,” he emphasized.
The executive recalled the investment of 1.6 billion euros in Portugal in the last six years of Vodafone, adding that, “unfortunately, Vodafone will have to reconsider plans to establish a pan-European R&D center in Portugal”, with 400 specialists in the development of 5G services and business digital solutions.
Vodafone was one of the companies that filed a complaint with the European Commission, considering that state aid is at stake.
After these statements, an official source from Nos adds that “the auction rules, as we know them, are absolutely illegal, unacceptable and disastrous for the sector and for the country. These regulations irrevocably compromise competition and investment in the sector, and consequently, the desired digital transition of companies, the public sector and the population, as well as territorial and social cohesion ”, therefore, it assumes,“ if the rules are not changed we will be condemning Portugal to irrelevance in the future digital economy, thus irreversibly damaging the competitiveness of companies and the evolution of the Portuguese standard of living ”.
(news updated at 5:40 pm with position Nos)
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