Vodafone Group received no illegal state aid when it received a cut-rate third generation mobile license in the Czech Republic, the European Commission ruled Thursday.
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The Czech government sold Vodafone's Czech subsidiary Oscar a 3G license for about EUR66 million last year. Telefonica's Eurotel and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile complained about the low price, saying they had paid far more for similar licenses back in 2001. T-Mobile paid EUR115 million for its license and Telefonica EUR105 million.
Yet the commission concluded that Vodafone's lower price was the result of genuine market forces.
"The commission is satisfied that the Czech authorities have not favored the winner of the third 3G license," said E.U. Antitrust Commissioner Neelie Kroes. "We have concluded that the lower price with respect to previous 3G licenses simply reflects the dramatic change in market conditions between 2001 and 2005."
The Czech government used the same formula for calculating the price in both auctions, the commission said. It depended on a study comparing fees charged for 3G licenses in other countries.
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