Chair Pavel Dvorak of the CTU telecoms regulator canceled the auction on Fri. for mobile-phone frequencies, saying that the bids had risen too high. Bids exceeding 20 bln. CZK would threaten the financing of the new networks and negatively affect the end-user prices, he said. The opening price was 7 bln. CZK, and Dvorak said that the final bids should have been 12-15 bln. CZK. Industry Minister Martin Kuba criticized Dvorak’s decision. Dvorak’s term in office expires on April 30, and Kuba said that no one can now expect him to recommend that Dvorak continue. Kuba said the cabinet’s priority is a transparent environment for the entry of a new mobile operator. / New auction terms could give PPF (4th bidder) a better position but that the delay also gives the incumbent operators more time to work to retain their customers. We originally expected the final price for frequencies could reach 1,5 times the initial price, or roughly 10 bln. CZK. We think that the aggregated sum of all bids have risen so high due to inappropriate action rules set by the regulator. The news has been slightly positive for TEFO2 during Fridays‘ trading hours as the new auction under revised rules could mean lower price for LTE licence.