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While the wireless carriers in the U.S. try to wrestle spectrum from the hands of the government and the broadcasters, many other countries are preparing to auction their digital dividend and other spectrum bands. While some countries are in the later stages of auction planning, a number of them are just in the initial consultation stages. The following is a brief overview of some of the auction plans around the world, a current auction calendar can be found at www.kbspectrum.com.
India: India has scheduled and rescheduled its latest 3G auction more times that can be counted, the latest snag to the Feb. 12 auction date stems from the Department of Defense and the Department of Telecommunications not seeing eye-to-eye on the specific spectrum in the 1900 MHz band that DoD is to release to DoT for the auction.
Mexico: Mexico is moving forward with two separate auctions, one in the 1850MHz-1990MHz band and one in the 1710MHz -2170MHz band. The auction particulars (including the auction rules) are only released to the companies who purchased the bidder package from Cofetel, the Mexican regulator, but the auction calendar has a late May date for the auction event. There appears to be some competition in the market, though, as 44 companies purchased copies of the rules for the 1850 band and 49 purchased the rules for the 1710 band.
Germany: After an October 2009 announcement of plans to auction an impressive 360 megahertz of spectrum in the 800/1800/2100/2600 MHz bands, the European Commission threatened legal action against BNetzA, the German telecom regulator, because of perceived favoritism of incumbents. The argument appears to have been settled and applications for the auction were due on Jan. 21, with an auction scheduled for April 12. BNetzA plans to hold a simultaneous multiple round ascending (SMRA) auction in a combination of both specific spectrum assignments and generic lots of spectrum (where specific spectrum assignment are determined in a post-auction allotment procedure).
Netherlands: The Netherlands plans to auction spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band in April or May, 2010. New entrant bidders will be capped at about 40 megahertz of spectrum (equivalent to eight auction activity points) and existing mobile network operators will be further restricted (Vodaphone: 25 megahertz; KPN: 20 megahertz; T-Mobile 10 megahertz). The auction will be conducted in two stages, first an open multiple round clock auction to determine the winners of generic lots, then a single sealed-bid assignment round where winners can make supplemental bids for specific spectrum assignments.
Thailand: Thailand’s auction of 3G spectrum in the 2.1 GHz band was scheduled for December 2009, but has been postponed, possibly until April or May 2010. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) originally planned to auction three licenses of 10 megahertz each and one license of 15 megahertz, but there were recent statements that they may hold the 15 megahertgz license back from this 3G auction.
United Kingdom: The U.K. had originally planned to auction spectrum at 2.6GHz for 4G services in 2009, but now plans to wait and auction the spectrum along with digital dividend spectrum and spectrum in the 800 MHz band in 2010. A June 2009 report, called the “Digital Britain” report, called for a rebalancing of spectrum holdings below 1 GHz, so the consultation process for this huge auction will involve a number of complicated issues relating to the competitive marketplace. In other words, don’t expect this to be done quickly.
Belgium: The Belgian telecom regulator, BIPT, closed its consultation on the 900/1800 MHz and 2.1 GHz bands on Jan. 21. BIPT was seeking comment on assigning spectrum to a fourth UMTS player and holding an auction for 4G spectrum in the 2500 – 2690 MHz band, though incumbents in that band have licenses that do not expire until 2015.
Ireland: Comreg, the Irish telecom regulator, has a consultation open until Feb. 26 on an auction of spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands, including issues about relocating incumbents and harmonizing license terms. An auction could come in 2010.
Denmark: The National IT and Telecom Agency (NITA) announced in July that it plans to auction 190 megahertz of spectrum at 2500-2690 MHz and 15 megahertz of spectrum at 2010-2025 MHz in the first quarter of 2010. The 2500-2690 MHz spectrum is sub-divided into paired (14 lots of 2×5 megahertz at 2500-2570 MHz paired with 2620-2690 MHz) and unpaired (10 lots of 5 megahertz at 2570-2620 MHz). NITA will use a combinatorial clock auction where bidders compete in an ascending clock auction with a sealed bid final round (also called the “supplementary” round) to determine the winners and prices, then a separate assignment round to determine the specific spectrum assignments for the winners.
Hong Kong: The Office of the Telecommunications Authority of Hong Kong (OFTA) issued a consultation on an auction of spectrum in the 850MHz, 950 MHz and 2 GHz bands that closed Jan 20. They proposed selling a 10 megahertz block in the 850 MHz band, a 10 megahertz in the 900 MHz band and two blocks of almost 5 megahertz in the 2 GHz band, and didn’t propose any spectrum caps.
Bangladesh: The Bangladesh Telecommunications and Regulatory Commission (BTRC) plans to auction at least four 3G licenses by the end of June. The BRTC is currently completing the 3G regulations and has yet to announce further details of the licenses or the auction format.
Portugal: The Portuguese telecom regulator accepted applications for the auction of broadband wireless access (BWA) licenses in the 3.4-3.6 GHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz bands (two blocks of 2×28 megahertz each in nine regions in the 3400-3600 MHz sub-band; and two blocks of 2×28 megahertz each in nine regions in the 3600-3800 MHz sub-band). The auction is planned as a sealed bid combinatorial auction where bidders place bids on generic lots of spectrum (up to four blocks) in each of the nine regions. Each bidder can submit up to 100 different packages of bids. A separate assignment phase follows where winners can express preferences for specific blocks of spectrum in each region.
Philippines: The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in the Philippines is currently writing the auction rules for the award of the fifth and final mobile 3G license. The previous four licenses were granted using a complicated comparative process.
France: Arcep, the French telecom regulator, is preparing the procedures for 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz band spectrum and may have details in the second half of 2010.
Switzerland: The Swiss telecom regulator ComCom has begin preparing for the auction of 3G spectrum that will become available after current GSM and UMTS licenses expire in 2013 and 2016. The Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM) has been directed to prepare the tender and design the auction. Details are expected at some point this year.
Australia: The Australian Government released a “Digital Dividend Green Paper” earlier this month asking questions about the digital dividend, including what it should do with the spectrum gained from the digital conversion, which is due in 2013. Comments on the paper are due by Feb. 26.
United States: The FCC has scheduled an auction of 9,603 unsold or terminated paging licenses for May 25. These licenses were auctioned beginning in 2000 and most have been included in three previous auctions. While they’re located in a prime band (929/931 MHz), the licenses are small and fragmented.
KB Enterprises L.L.C. (KBE) is a consultancy providing telecommunications policy consulting as well as auction design, software implementation
and bidding analysis services. KBE’
;s founding partners Karen Wrege and Brett Tarnutzer together have over 36 years of experience in telecommunications policy and auctioning government assets.
Since 1991 KBE members have designed and implemented high stakes auctions of various commodities including financial instruments, telecommunications spectrum, and energy. They have developed and implemented eight auction software platforms using various auction rules including simultaneous multiple round, ascending and descending clocks, and complex combinatorial auctions. At last count, the auction programs they have developed and implemented have encompassed 79 high stakes auctions with proceeds of nearly $78 billion.
KBE members also have a long and distinguished background in wireless telecommunications policy beginning with work on the creation of the rules for the FCC’s Personal Communications Service (PCS) in 1994. KBE recently completed a study of technical and policy issues relating to spectrum liberalization in seven countries around the world for the GSM Association and conducted a study on the application of spectrum auctions in the developing world for the Soros Foundation. Most recently, KBE developed recommendations for assigning 2.6 GHz spectrum in South Africa for the Shuttleworth Foundation.
Analyst Angle: Let the bidding begin – spectrum auction updates around the globe
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