Belgian cablecos Telenet and Voo have officially been awarded Belgium’s fourth 3G licence, local regulator BIPT announced yesterday.
Telenet and Tecteo, Voo’s holding company, were awarded the 10-year licence after jointly placing a minimum E71.5m…
Belgian cablecos Telenet and Voo have officially been awarded Belgium’s fourth 3G licence, local regulator BIPT announced yesterday.
Telenet and Tecteo, Voo’s holding company, were awarded the 10-year licence after jointly placing a minimum E71.5m bid.
The combined entity, called NV Telenet Tecteo Bidco, was the only bidder in Belgium’s search to find a fourth 3G licensee.
BIPT stated that this licence was fully secured on 29 July after NV Telenet Tecteo Bidco made an offer for the total spectrum available (1950.1-1964.9 MHz /2140.1-2154.9 MHz), amounting to E616,657 a month.
“NV Telenet Tecteo Bidco opted for paying the amount bid in annual instalments over the total period from 15 July 2011 to 15 March 2021. In the meantime the payment was made for 2011 and NV Telenet Tecteo Bidco has accepted the conditions of the licence,” the regulator stated.
“As a result the three operators who already acquired a 3G licence in 2001 (Belgacom, Mobistar and KPN Group Belgium) are now joined by NV Telenet Tecteo Bidco. The latter is now under the obligation to start offering its services no later than 18 months from the date when the licence was granted, i.e. 15 July 2011.”
On 27 June, Telenet, which currently runs an MVNO on Mobistar’s network, revealed it was seeking partnerships with other local mobile operators to save on roll-out costs.
In a statement at the time, the group said it was looking “at all available options to operate its frequencies at maximum capital efficiency, leveraging as much as possible on existing infrastructure assets and seeking a more intense collaboration with the existing Belgian mobile network operators through mutual value accretive partnerships”.
Moody’s estimates that this strategy would limit network roll-out spend to around E50m.
In addition, the group plans to acquire 2G spectrum in 2015 through a “spectrum reshuffle” worth some E31m, a spokesman told TelecomFinance at the time, adding that these frequencies would complement the recently acquired 3G spectrum and will be shared with Voo.
According to BIPT, if Telenet Tecteo Bidco NV acquires the spectrum, it would be able to put these frequencies (in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands) into use for the first time on 27 November 2015.
Meanwhile, the regulator has invited telcos to take part in this autumn’s auction for 4G licences in the 2.6 GHz spectrum band. On 1 June it invited operators to submit initial applications by 14 October to register their interest in taking part.
