Radiofrequency spectrum public auctions in the Republic of Croatia

Radiofrequency spectrum public auctions have been carried out during last years throughout the Europe. It hasn't been performed in Croatia so far. Spectrum auction makes the assignment procedure transparent and economically efficient. Also, the criterion is very clear — maximum benefit for the governments. This makes it simple for decision on the winners, but on the other hand, the operators do not have a guarantee that they will actually win the certain part of the spectrum and at what price. In this paper, current situation in Croatia on allocation and assignment of most interesting parts of the spectrum for the operators, as well as current regulatory framework are presented. Careful choice of auction parameters is of a fundamental value and this paper provides the most important parameters which should be specified before auction starts. The paper also gives the short overview and the results of already conducted auctions in Europe which can be used as the guidelines in preparing spectrum auction in Croatia.