BUCD BVBA, a company said to have Asian backing, has spent more than €22m in Belgium’s 4G spectrum auction that was concluded yesterday. Other acquirers of spectrum are Belgacom, KPN, and Mobistar, who spent between €20m and €15m each. .
The…
BUCD BVBA, a company said to have Asian backing, has spent more than €22m in Belgium’s 4G spectrum auction that was concluded yesterday. Other acquirers of spectrum are Belgacom, KPN, and Mobistar, who spent between €20m and €15m each. .
The Belgian telecoms regulator BIPT said that 155MHz had been auctioned for almost €78m altogether.
US-based wireless broadband provider Craig Wireless, the fifth bidder, did not win any spectrum licence.
Speaking to TelecomFinance, a former managing partner at BUCD, Filip Buerms, described BUCD as a “matchmaking company”.
It was set up by Buerms and his partner, Jan Roex, in June to facilitate links between a Chinese company and Belgian companies.
Buerms said that he has now left the company and that the new backers are yet to come forward publicly.
He said that BUCD had worked with Chinese vendor Datang Telecom Technology (DTT) in the past, but that it is not necessarily the company BUCD is working for now.
The auction involved the 2,575-2,620MHz frequency band and six frequency blocks in the 2,500-2,570MHz and 2,620-2,690MHz frequency bands.
BUCD BVBA spent €22.5m for 45MHz (2,575-2,620MHz).
Belgacom bid €20.2m for 2x20MHz (2,500-2,520MHz and 2,620-2,640MHz).
Mobistar bid €20m for 2x20MHz (2,550-2,570MHz and 2,670-2,690MHz).
KPN Group Belgium bid €15m for 2x15MHz (2,535-2,550MHz and 2,655-2,670MHz).
The user rights will become valid in July 2012 and will last for 15 years.
The chairman of the BIPT’s council, Luc Hindryckx, said: “The allocation of the 4G frequencies will continue to boost the market for mobile telephony and mobile internet in Belgium.”
The telcos Belgacom, KPN and Mobistar all released statements making clear that the new licences would allow them to roll out their 4G networks.
