First in Europe to auction 700 MHz band
Germany’s Federal Network Agency, which regulates the telecommunications, utilities, postal and railway industries, announced it would conduct a spectrum auction in the 700 MHz range in May and June. The news came on the heels of uts American counterpart, the Federal Communications Commission, closing the book on the record-breaking Auction 97 of 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum bands.
The FCC’s latest spectrum auction lasted more than two months and 340 rounds of bidding. After all the bids were tallied, the spectrum licenses were auctioned off for about $44.9 billion.
Germany’s Federal Network Agency published a notice giving firms interested in taking part in the spectrum auction until March 6 to submit applications. An announcement from the regulatory agency explains that the auction is based on the need to ensure that at least 97% of households nationwide have broadband coverage. Germany’s broadband requirements are fixed to download speeds of at least 50 megabits per second.
Federal Network Agency President Jochen Homann said the spectrum auction could help improve rural broadband availability. Translated from German, Homann said, “The early allocation of these frequencies will noticeably improve the rural broadband coverage through improved competitive offers among providers.”
Industry analyst Heike Pauls told Reuters the auction could draw revenue in the $5.1 billion range; major players will likely include Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica Deutschland, according to the report.
The Netherlands raised some $4.3 billion from a 2012 spectrum auction of frequencies that support LTE-based mobile broadband.
Germany is the first country in Europe to hold a spectrum auction for the 700 MHz range that is the basis for LTE services in the United States and Canada. France is scheduled to follow suit later this year.
Germany ranks No. 3 in the world, behind the U.S. and Japan, for number of fixed broadband subscriptions with 28.6 million, according to statistics compiled in December 2013 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Germany is No. 6 worldwide for number of wireless broadband subscriptions with 37.1 million, according to the OECD.
