In a move reminiscent of the US cablecos joint Clearwire investment, four Spanish rivals have joined forces to bid for the new mobile telephone licences being put out to tender by the government.
Ono, Euskaltel, R and Telecable are jointly bidding on the…
In a move reminiscent of the US cablecos joint Clearwire investment, four Spanish rivals have joined forces to bid for the new mobile telephone licences being put out to tender by the government.
Ono, Euskaltel, R and Telecable are jointly bidding on the tranche of new licences being released by the government following the opening of a consultation process by the Spanish trade ministry. In the past the cable operators have been unsuccessful in their sole attempts to secure regional licences and see a joint bid as the best way to take on the established operators Movistar, Vodafone and Orange.
If successful, the cartel plans to use the spectrum to support voice and mobile broadband. The auction, planned for next year, will follow the German example in selling several key bands at the same time, allowing carriers to acquire a combination of frequencies to optimize their new roll-outs for rural and urban coverage. The auction will include new capacity on frequencies lower than 800MHz digital dividend spectrum, plus 900MHz, 2.1GHz 3G expansion, and 2.6GHz.
The new capacity is being freed up by the Digital Dividend, using frequencies previously held for analogue television broadcasters. The capacity is highly prized by operators because of the possibilities for indoor reception. A further block above 900MHz is also being made available.
The Spanish government plans to release the spectrum on a gradual basis through to 2014, a policy that is seen to favour the cablecos chances of securing capacity. The awards themselves will be made during 2011.
