By the 23 September deadline, three parties submitted applications to take part in Belgium’s 800 MHz spectrum auction.
The Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT), the country’s telecoms regulator, said it will examine…
By the 23 September deadline, three parties submitted applications to take part in Belgium’s 800 MHz spectrum auction.
The Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT), the country’s telecoms regulator, said it will examine the applications and publish the list of shortlisted bidders on 8 October. The auction for the digital dividend spectrum is scheduled to start on 12 November.
BIPT declined to comment on the names of the candidates. There are currently three mobile operators in Belgium – Belgacom’s Proximus, Orange’s Mobistar, and KPN’s Base. Mobistar has confirmed it is a candidate while the other two players were not immediately available to comment on the auction.
A total of three 20-year licences will be awarded, each comprising two blocks of 10 MHz. The minimum price per licence is €120m (US$161.8m) but one of them includes additional obligations with regards to the coverage of rural areas. Candidates can only acquire one licence each.
BIPT said in a statement that the allocation of frequencies in the 800 MHz band, which came about with the switchover from analogue to digital terrestrial television, “is crucial to provide the population with high-speed mobile internet”.
