Germany: Mundt believes fourth mobile operator is needed

Germany needs a fourth mobile network operator to inject fresh competition into its stagnating telecoms market, according to the country’s antitrust regulator.

A report by Reuters sites Cartel Office Chief, Andres Mundt, as saying that Germany needed a fourth mobile operator to enter the market at the country’s forthcoming 5G spectrum auction.

“It would be desirable for competition on the mobile market if the auction enabled the entry of a fourth network operator,” Mundt said in a statement.

Unsurprisingly, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica Deutschland and Vodafone have all resisted terms offered by the German telecoms regulator that would reduce barriers to entry for a would be new operator.

Germany plans to begin auctioning spectrum for fifth generation mobile networks in early 2019. The country’s Federal Network Operator has already delayed the spectrum auction, which was originally due to take place in late 2018.

Mundt also called for Germany’s big three network operators to be forced to open up their network architecture for use by mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), echoing calls made by the MVNO Europe group last month.

Full Content: Reuters