New rules issued by the Spanish government for its upcoming spectrum auction could reportedly favour France Telecom’s Orange, Telefonica’s Movistar and Vodafone.
The government is planning to award 60MHz of spectrum in the 900MHz and 2.6GHz bands…
New rules issued by the Spanish government for its upcoming spectrum auction could reportedly favour France Telecom’s Orange, Telefonica’s Movistar and Vodafone.
The government is planning to award 60MHz of spectrum in the 900MHz and 2.6GHz bands later this year.
Further details on the auction were published in the state’s official bulletin today. According to the bulletin, the plan for spectrum in the 900MHz band will involve one award only (which will enable the use of a paired block of 4.8MHz) with a nationwide “ambit” or range. This can begin to be used in 2015.
According to Spanish newspaper El Economista this decision will shut the door on regional cable operators like Euskaltel, Telecable and R, which had initially expressed interested in the 900MHz spectrum in order to provide a greater range of coverage.
The newspaper claimed that the auction rules will give an advantage to the three major mobile operators, which already provide nationwide services. It also said that the decision regarding the nationwide ambit of the 900MHz spectrum went against the recommendations of telecoms regulator CMT.
Euskatel, R and Telecable all won spectrum in the 2.6GHz band in the spectrum auction in July. The only telco to be awarded 900MHz spectrum in the July auction was Telefonica.
