The Hungarian government could announce a tender to allow a fourth mobile operator in the 900 megahertz frequency this week, Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag reported Wednesday.

The tender could be announced after modifications of the Electronic Communications Act came into effect Wednesday, which creates the legal basis for a launch.

The auction will enable a fourth mobile service provider, outside Hungary's Magyar Telekom Nyrt. (MTELEKOM.BU), the Hungarian unit of Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE); and local arms of Norway's Telenor ASA (TELNY, TEL.OS), and the U.K.'s Vodafone Group PLC. (VOD.LN).

Any fourth mobile operator will need three to five years to build up a national network, and its investment would run into tens of billions of forints (HUF10 billion=$52 million), Nepszabadsag reported.

Radio frequencies used for mobile telecom networks differ across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. As user numbers have grown, telecom providers have introduced new frequencies for their networks to meet demand.

 
   Article website: http://nol.hu/lap/gazdasag/20110803-jon_az_ujabb_mobiltender

-Budapest Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +361-267-0623