The government launched this Saturday the call for bids for the latest 5G mobile broadband that has yet to be awarded, despite a proposal against major telecom operators, who preferred to delay the auction for at least a year while waiting for the technology needed to take advantage of the frequency to mature.
Thus, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, through the Secretary of State for Communications and Digital Infrastructure, on Saturday published the rules and call for tenders for the 26GHz band, the only priority for the 5G network that remains to be given.
According to Europa Press, twelve franchises are sold nationwide in the 200MHz 25.10-27.50GHz band, and 38 regional franchises in the 24.70-25.10GHz band.
All the privileges offered will allocate the use of a 200 MHz block for uplink and downlink communications on the same frequency, but at different time intervals (TDD or Time Division Duplex).
The starting price for each national franchise has been set at four million euros. In the case of territorial concessions, the initial price is proportional to the population of the autonomous community or city under consideration.
The concessions will be for a period of 20 years, extendable only once for another 20 years, and comply with the technical specifications established by the European Commission, regarding the frequency band format 24.25-27.5 GHz. For terrestrial systems capable of providing broadband wireless electronic communications services in the Union.
Companies interested in participating in the auction can submit their applications until 1:00 pm on December 7, 2022, the date after which the period for the evaluation of said applications and the training of those accepted in the use of the electronic platform will open. Auctions (PES) are safe to use in the auction. After that, the tender will begin, which is scheduled to begin before December 22.
The ministry indicated in a statement that this is one of the priority frequency bands for the deployment of 5G technology, and that its tender is one of the actions planned in the strategy to promote this technology.
The country’s major operators this summer set themselves against holding a 26GHz band auction this year, and They suggested postponing it until 2023 or 2024Until technology matures to harness it.
This is what the summary of the public consultation of the Secretary of State for Communications and Digital Infrastructure indicates on their position: “They consider that there is currently no demand for this band, so it makes no sense to prepare for the auction.”
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