The Czech Republic’s telecoms regulator said it aims to raise CZK7.4 billion (US$354 million) from the upcoming auction for 4G LTE licences, reports Reuters.

Applications for licences to operate LTE in the 800MHz, 1800MHz and 2600MHz frequencies are being accepted until 10 September, with the auction due to be completed by the end of the year.

The telecoms bureau has reserved some of the 1800MHz frequency for a potential new entrant in order to boost competition for the three incumbent operators T-Mobile, Telefonica CR and Vodafone.

This follows the rejection of a proposal to reserve a part of the 800MHz frequency, which is easier to make use of, due to concerns that the existing operators would deem the move unfair. The decision has been criticised in some quarters as the greater technical challenges of utilising the 1800MHz spectrum could put off new players thinking of taking part in the auction.

The Czech Republic had 13.7 million mobile connections at the end of the second quarter of 2012, according to Wireless Intelligence. Around 10.4 million of these connections were 2G, with 3.2 million using 3G.

T-Mobile leads the Czech market with a 39 percent share (5.3 million connections), followed by O2 (4.9 million), Vodafone (3.3 million) and U:fon with 121,000 connections.