Polkomtel ‘pirouette’ backed by UKE

Local news portal Rpkom writes that Orange Poland has received a ruling from the Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) overturning a previous decision in which it had approved the transfer of a 2.4MHz block of spectrum in the 1800MHz band from Polkomtel to Orange. The development was reported by Wojciech Jabczynski, a spokesperson for Orange, who suggested that Polkomtel had performed an ‘impressive pirouette’ and changed its mind and ‘did not want to give up the band it had sold already.’ According to the official, Orange has not decided whether it will appeal the decision, adding that Orange can cope without the extra frequencies. Polkomtel reportedly withdrew from the agreement shortly after Orange and T-Mobile Poland announced that they were willing to share spectrum resources, but would compete independently at auction for the rights to 800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies.