German operators will be able to purchase spectrum in the 700 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 1.5 GHz bands in the first half of next year after the regulator laid out its proposal to make more airwaves available.
An auction is planned for the second…
German operators will be able to purchase spectrum in the 700 MHz, 900 MHz, 1,800 MHz and 1.5 GHz bands in the first half of next year after the regulator laid out its proposal to make more airwaves available.
An auction is planned for the second quarter of 2015 and will be designed to ensure coverage of rural areas and expand mobile broadband penetration, Bundesnetzagentur said in a statement yesterday.
The regulator also looks to use the sale to enhance competition in the wake of the merger of Telefonica Deutschland and E-Plus, although it did not expand on this.
Earlier this year, the regulator expressed concerns about the tie-up saying it caused an unbalanced distribution of frequencies among operators
The regulator noted that Telefonica and E-Plus would jointly control nearly 64% of all available spectrum in the 1,800 MHz spectrum, compared to less than 8% held by competitor Vodafone.
At the time, the Bundesnetzagentur floated the possibility that frequencies in the 1,800 MHz band could be re-allocated.
