Hungary may relaunch mobile tender -newspaper

The sale of the frequency halted in March when national telecommunications authority NHH scrapped the tender, blaming a significant deterioration in the global and domestic economic environment, which it said made financing and returns uncertain.

The paper said the tender could be relaunched after Hungary adopts new European Union regulations, which would also allow the winner to provide broadband internet and other data transfer services in the 900 MHz frequency.

Citing a Finance Ministry document, Magyar Nemzet said Hungary expected 20 billion forints ($108.2 million) from the sale.

The paper cited telecoms authority spokesman Gyorgy Marton as saying the NHH had not been formally approached to begin preparations for a new tender, but he added that using the 900 MHz frequency seemed a realistic option.

The three existing mobile providers are Magyar Telekom MTEL.BU, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, Pannon GSM, a unit of Norway's Telenor, and Vodafone.

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; editing by David Stamp)