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Telekom Austria Group has announced that its Croatian subsidiary, Vipnet, has acquired a 10 MHz paired frequency block (total of 20 MHz) of the 800 MHz spectrum for a total of HRK150 million (EUR20 million). The sale of three blocks within the Digital Dividend spectrum was conducted by the Croatian regulatory authority (HAKOM) through a public call procedure. According to the licence requirements, Vipnet must achieve coverage of at least 50% of Croatian territory within five years.

Today, the Telekom Austria Group (VSE: TKA, OTC US: TKAGY) announced that Vipnet, its Croatian subsidiary, has obtained a 10 MHz paired frequency block (total of 20 MHz) of the 800 MHz frequency spectrum for a total of HRK 150 million (which equates to approximately EUR 20 million).

The sale of blocks within the 800 MHz spectrum, so called “Digital Dividend”, was conducted by the Croatian regulatory authority HAKOM through a public call procedure and took place from 14 September 2012 to 15 October 2012. The spectrum was officially awarded on 29 October 2012. Whilst a total of 3 frequency blocks were offered, only Vipnet and T-Hrvatski Telekom participated in the process.

The regulatory requirement for these frequencies is to achieve a coverage of at least 50% of the Croatian territory within five years, whereas the starting date has not yet been defined by HAKOM. The licences of the acquired frequencies will expire on 18 October 2024.

All costs and CAPEX related to the roll out in 2012 are already included in the stated Group guidance for 2012.

The acquired frequency blocks will allow Vipnet to offer broadband services based on 4th generation mobile technology, so called Long Term Evolution (LTE).