Spain plans to auction 2.6-GHz and 3.5-GHz spectrum in January 2016 with a view to completing the process by March, it emerged this week.
According to a report by Expansion on Tuesday, Spain’s Ministry of Industry is tendering 2.6-GHz frequencies that were left unsold following the digital dividend auction carried out in mid-2011. It will also offer for sale 10 MHz of 2.6-GHz spectrum returned to the government by Vodafone, which exceeded its spectrum cap when it acquired Ono.
The airwaves carry a reserve price of €5 million, and cover Aragon, Cantabria, Castile and Leon, Catalonia, Ceuta, Extremadura, La Rioja, Navarra, Madrid, Melilla, Murcia and Valencia. Together these areas have a combined population of 27 million, about 58% of the total population of Spain.
Furthermore, Spain also plans to auction 20 MHz of nationwide unpaired 3.5-GHz spectrum. Currently used for fixed wireless broadband, the government is reallocating it for use by mobile operators.
According to the report, Spain’s smaller players, Yoigo and MasMovil, are the most likely candidates for the spectrum given that the country’s big guns – Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange – are ineligible due to the fact they would breach the upper limits of their spectrum caps.
