Krogerus advises telecommunications company DNA in the 4G spectrum auction

Krogerus advised the Finnish telecommunications company DNA Oy during the 4G radio frequency spectrum auction that was concluded in November 2013 with a confirmatory decision by the Finnish Council of State. The advice concerned plans by the Finnish telecoms regulator to change the rules of the auction while it was running.

The auction was organised by the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) to distribute the licences for the 800 MHz radio spectrum for the coming 20 years. The spectrum has a key role in developing mobile broadband services.

Due to the unforeseen drawing-out of the procedure, FICORA sought participants’ opinions on its propositions to resolve the matter. The consultation involved administrative and telecommunications law, with important implications involving EU internal market and competition law.

After the consultation, FICORA concluded that it had no grounds for altering the rules of the auction in the way it had originally proposed. The auction successfully ended after nearly nine months of bidding on 30 October 2013 with DNA and two other major mobile telecommunications operators each winning two frequency bands out of six auctioned.

Partner Katri Joenpolvi led the Krogerus team. Other team members included associates Simo Autio and Jarno Käkelä.