KPN returns a part of its Telfort UMTS spectrum to Govt (Netherlands)

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: KPN, the Dutch mobile operator, is returning a part of its UMTS spectrum to the Dutch government from 15 September. The operator has asked Ministry of Economic Affairs to withdraw the licence for frequencies that its subsidiary Telfort won in 1998 and 2000 in the DCS1800 and UMTS bands.
The decision came after KPN lost a court case against spectrum authority Agentschap Telecom (AT) on 13 July, when the Rotterdam Court of Justice upheld the EUR 5 million fine imposed on KPN for failure to comply with the roll-out obligations in Telfort’s licences.
The fine that operator had to pay was EUR 40 million. For the payment of fine, KPN moved its Telfort 3G customers to its own network after acquiring the mobile operator, in order to cut down on its network development costs. Telfort will still hold on to some frequency rights in the 1800 MHz which have no roll-out obligations.