The Swedish regulatory authority Post & Telestyrelsen (PTS) has today announced that it will organise an auction for the grant of one nation-wide right to use frequencies in the 450 MHz band, to be used for digital mobile telephony.

This is a departure from Sweden's traditional approach of organising 'beauty contest' procedures.

The PTS will publish the details of the bidding system and associated criteria after the Summer (no exact date is specified at this stage), and it is the intention to grant the licence for the use of the 450 MHz band by the end of 2004.

In today's announcement, PTS refers to a study it has commissioned on the use of auctions in spectrum assignment, and to a public hearing it has held earlier this year.

The study is available in English and can be accessed by clicking here.