The Spanish government has made plans for a spectrum auction that will take place next month and through which it hopes to give local carriers access to more 5G spectrum. The final bidding requirements for the 26 GHz band have been released in a release by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation through the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures. As per the government, the forthcoming spectrum auction will finish the process of making all the chosen bands accessible to telcos for the deployment of 5G networks and services. The government stated that after extensive interaction with the industry beginning in December 2021, the final bidding requirements for the 26 GHz spectrum emerged.
Every National Concession Will Cost 4 Million Euros To Begin
A total of 12 national concessions in the 25.10–27.50 GHz band and 38 regional concessions in the 24.70–25.10 GHz band are what the government hopes to issue. The concessions are made in compliance with the technical guidelines established by the European Commission for the harmonisation of the 24.25-27.5 GHz frequency band for terrestrial systems capable of providing wireless broadband electronic communications services in the Union.
A base price of 4 million euros ($4 million) has been established for each national concession. With regard to regional concessions, the starting price is inversely correlated with the population of the autonomous community or city in question. The concessions will last for 20 years, with a single 20-year extension possible.
The 700 MHz spectrum auction in July 2021 brought in a total of 1.1 billion Euros for the Spanish government, and local carriers Telefónica, Vodafone, and Orange won the right to use these crucial frequencies to develop 5G services. Each 700 MHz licence will be valid for a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of 40 years, according to the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The final auction only featured two operators, Orange and Telefónica, which each paid the starting price of 21 million euros for a 10-MHz block. According to Spanish telecom provider Telefonica, 82% of the Spanish population was covered by its 5G network as of July. 38 million people in 1,431 towns and cities across Spain, according to the operator, are covered by its 5G network. With the use of this frequency band, the telecom hopes to provide its 5G service to 1,400 municipalities in Spain by the end of 2022 and 2,400 by the end of 2023.
