Bahamas mobile auction delayed
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Bahamas mobile auction delayed

The Bahamas Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has postponed a mobile spectrum auction scheduled for this week, according to local reports.

The auction for the country’s second mobile licence is said to have been delayed with “no indications as to why”, and the interruption is the second time the auction has been stalled.

The URCA postponed the auction in April this year in order to investigate telecoms towers erected by one of the bidders, Cable Bahamas (CBL). CBL was found to be breaching rules with its tower construction, but it has not been excluded from competing for the licence.

This week’s activity would be the second stage of the auction, and the reason for the latest delay remains ambiguous. However, sources have told reporters that the delay is “not material”, and that the auction was still “absolutely imminent”.

“Scheduling the spectrum auction means ensuring all the parties, and their consultants and advisers, and URCA and its consultants, are together at the same time,” Stephen Bereuax, director of policy and regulation, URCA, told reporters.

Regulators still expect to complete the auction in September. Virgin Mobile is bidding for the licence alongside CBL, but Digicel has pulled out of the process.

 

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