The Hungarian Media Authority announced this week it will change the license terms  for the country’s three mobile phone companies when the companies’ contracts come up for renewal in October 2014. The measure comes as part of the media regulator’s ongoing push to reorganize Hungary’s mobile telecoms market by adding a fourth market player, which the Media Authority says is necessary to boost competition. In 2012, the Media Authority awarded a new mobile frequency to a group of state companies, but a court later ruled the regulator’s tender procedure was illegal.

According to reports, the state has been vying to break into Hungary’s mobile telecom market, which is currently dominated by three companies: Telenor, Magyar Telekom (owned by Deutche Telecom) and Vodafone. In 2012, a consortium of state companies consisting of the Hungarian Post Office, Hungarian Power Companies, the Hungarian Investment Bank was awarded a new mobile frequency by the Media Authority. In January 2013, a court annulled the Media Authority’s decision for irregularities in the tender procedure.

Following the court’s decision, it was rumored that the government was in talks to buy Vodofone Hungary. When Vodafone Hungary first entered the Hungarian market in 1999, it was part owned by the state. After the court negated the Media Authority's recent tender award to the state consortia, the regulator has continued to campaign for a fourth mobile operator on grounds that a new company would to invigorate the market.