Poland’s Office of Electronic Communications (UKE) said six firms have submitted preliminary bids for 4G spectrum — the country’s four biggest operators, plus two newcomers.

The bidders are competing over 19 blocks of radio frequencies in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz parts of the spectrum.

Leading operators Orange, P4, T-Mobile and Polkomtel are all among the bidders, confirmed the regulator.

However, the smallest existing player (the CenterNet/Mobyland/Aero 2 grouping) did not join the fray. This company already offers some 4G services using 1800MHz spectrum.

Instead two newcomers jumped into the spectrum contest. One is Hubb Investments, a firm set up in 2012. The president of Hubb is Daniel Kendziorek. The company is owned by Allford Investments, which is also headed by Kendziorek. Allford also owns broadcast infrastructure firm Emitel.

The other new face is NetNet which, says local media, is owned by Szymon Ruta, the son of Jerome Ruta. Ruta senior is a business partner of Polkomtel owner Zygmunt Solorz-Zak.

Bids are due to be assessed by 24 December.

The country has already made a start on 4G services, with Plus taking up position as an early market leader, according to figures from GSMA Intelligence. The operator has 1.11 million 4G mobile connections out of the 1.62 million total.