Turkey has set a minimum price of €2.3 billion for its upcoming auction of spectrum for 4G mobile services.
The country’s telecoms regulator plans to sell off spectrum in multiple bands by the end of May, with a view to facilitating the commercial launch of 4G services by the end of the year.
On Wednesday the Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA) published further details of the process, including setting out reserve prices for spectrum in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands (see chart).
In an earlier announcement the regulator said it would price spectrum in such a way as to balance the state’s interest in generatin g revenue from the frequencies and the operators’ revenues and investment requirements.
ICTA has designed the auction to ensure that at least three companies will emerge with spectrum, it said, in order to guarantee a competitive market.
It has reserved some spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band for a potential new market entrant.
Turk Telekom, Turkcell, Vodafone, Avea and others have shown interest in the auction, ICTA said.
