South Korea’s big three network operators -- SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus --on Monday completed their applications to participate in an upcoming spectrum auction, according to the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning Tuesday.

A total of five blocks in the 700-megahertz, 1.8-gigahertz, 2.1GHz and 2.6GHz frequencies will be up for sale during the spectrum auction, which is expected to raise at least 2.6 trillion won ($2.3 billion) in total.

“The ministry will soon start a reviewing process of the applicants and begin the bidding process later this month,” the ICT ministry said in a press release.

Market watchers expected that the auction will likely begin next Monday after the applications are reviewed this week.

Executives from the three companies handling the applications declined to talk about the bidding, citing concerns about the sensitivity of the matter.

The stakes are especially high, as each firm is aiming for bands adjacent to their existing ones in order to increase efficiency in running next-generation networks with broader bands.

The total amount of spending by the three companies in a 2013 spectrum auction totaled 2.9 trillion won while they poured a total of 1.7 trillion won in a bidding competition in 2011

A total of 140MHz bands will be up for grabs this time.

If there are no winners in the first round of the auction, the bidders go onto a second stage involving a one-round sealed-bid auction process where contestants submit bids without unveiling the bidding price.

Some market officials involved in the matter lashed out at the ICT ministry for trying to take advantage of the nation’s network infrastructure by setting base prices for network bands much higher than before.

“It seems like the government is more focusing on making money out of the bidding competition than allocating the network resources fairly to market players,” said an industry official, warning excessive money spent on the auction could lead to increased telecom bills for consumers.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)