By Dominic Chopping

STOCKHOLM--The Swedish telecom regulator on Tuesday began auctions of fifth-generation spectrum which were delayed by a court appeal lodged by Huawei Technologies Co. after use of its equipment was banned from Sweden's 5G networks.

The Swedish Post and Telecom Agency last October banned the use of Huawei and ZTE Corp. telecom equipment in critical 5G-network infrastructure due to security concerns flagged by the country's armed forces and security police.

PTS, as it is known, approved four companies to participate in the 5G-spectrum auctions and told them that Huawei and ZTE products couldn't be used in new installations of central functions, and any existing products from the two companies must be removed.

Huawei filed a court case to appeal the decision which led to the auctions being delayed. However, a Swedish court dismissed the appeal, allowing PTS to resume the auctions without removing the Huawei ban.

The auctions will be for frequency in the 3.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz bands. These bands will strengthen the capacity for mobile broadband services and for the development of the Internet of Things and are expected to be central to Swedish 5G development, PTS said.

Hi3G Access, operating under the Three brand, Net4Mobility, a joint venture between Tele2 AB and Telenor ASA, Telia Sverige and Teracom have all been approved as bidders in the auctions.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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