STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -A Swedish appeals court on Wednesday said telecoms regulator PTS would be able to conduct 5G spectrum auctions, setting aside an earlier ruling, though it remained an option for Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei to appeal the decision.
PTS said last month it was halting 5G spectrum auctions and appealing a court decision to suspend parts of its earlier decision, in which it followed Britain in banning Huawei equipment from 5G networks, citing national security risks.
The auctions, which were delayed earlier due to security review, would allocate frequencies in the 3.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz bands, crucial for 5G as those bands can support advanced applications due to their high data carrying capacity.
“The administrative court partly grants the appeal,” the Stockholm administrative court of appeal said in a statement.
PTS said that with the court decision, it would be possible to carry out the auction “in the near future”.
“The new 5G technology enables the interconnection of users, things and applications, which is expected to lead to great benefits for the whole society, not least by strengthening the companies’ competitiveness and streamlining the public service,” the Stockholm administrative court of appeal said in a statement.
“A delayed 5G expansion thus risks having negative consequences for the Swedish business community by losing competitiveness vis-à-vis the outside world.
Representatives of Huawei did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Helena Soderpalm and Supantha Mukherjee; editing by Niklas Pollard)
