Czech Republic regulator the Czech Telecommunication Office (Cesky telekomunikacni urad, CTU) want to kick off its auction of 5G-suitable frequencies in early November 2019 and is seeking to attract bids from a new fourth mobile network operator (MNO) to tackle the long-standing problem of high mobile rates in the country. A report from Reuters claims that the CTU is in the 'later stages of planning' and having submitted the main terms and conditions of the tender process to the government, hopes that discussions will now take place ahead of a public consultation – likely to start in April. The regulator plans to auction off blocks of spectrum in the 700MHz and 3.4GHz bands and in an attempt to smooth the way for a new entrant it is reserving one block in the 700MHz band for newcomers, preventing existing MNOs from driving up prices. It will also put in place stipulations to protect the newcomer in the set-up phase, including the requirement that MNOs allow it access to their networks while building its own, provided the entrant initially covers 10% of the population itself.