Local carriers TIM and Vodafone Italia secured spectrum in the 3.7 GHz, 26 GHz and 700 MHz bands
Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development announced the completion of the national 5G spectrum tender, in which the government raised a total of EUR 6.55 billion ($7.56 billion), more than EUR 4 billion over the minimum reserve price of EUR 2.5 billion.
During a total of 14 days of competitive bidding, local carriers Telecom Italia, Wind Tre, Vodafone Italia, Fastweb and Iliad secured spectrum in the 694-790 MHz, 26.5-27.5 GHz and 3.6-3.8 GHz bands.
TIM paid EUR 2.4 billion for 80 megahertz in the 3.7 GHz band MHz, 200 megahertz in the 26 GHz band and 20 megahertz in 700 MHz band.
Rival operator Vodafone Italia also paid EUR 2.4 billion for a similar amount of spectrum in the same frequency bands.
Newcomer Iliad Italia spent EUR 1.2 billion to acquire 5G spectrum, while Wind Tre acquired licenses at a value of EUR 517 million. Iliad won 200 megahertz in the 26 GHz band, alongside its 20 megahertz of 3.7GHz and 10 megahertz in the 700 MHz band. Wind Tre acquired 20 megahertz of 3.7 GHz and 200 megahertz in the 26 GHz band.
5G licenses are valid for 19 years, with the exception of the licenses in the 700 MHz band, which will not be released until 2022 and will be valid for 15 and a half years.
“By securing all three band frequencies put on auction, TIM strengthens its network leadership in Italy. The new frequencies acquired represent a core asset for TIM’s future development and, at the same time, for the ongoing digitization of Italy,” said TIM’s CEO Amos Genish. TIM plans to make immediate use of the blocks of spectrum in the 3700 MHz and 26 GHz band together with the blocks it already owns in those frequencies, to leverage the testing already underway in the cities of Turin, Bari and Matera and in the Republic of San Marino.
In San Marino, TIM has already started to implement smart city services including public security, transport, and environmental monitoring, in addition to applications in the media, education and virtual reality fields.
In a statement, Vodafone Group said the newly won spectrum will deliver substantial network operating cost-efficiencies to meet the expected future growth in data traffic.
“When it is available from 2022, the 700 MHz spectrum will be used to deploy enhanced 5G services, providing nationwide coverage at very high speed and very low latency for next-generation applications including IoT, virtual and augmented reality, connected vehicles and robotics,” Vodafone said.
Vodafone’s CEO Nick Read said that auctions should be designed to balance fiscal requirements with the need for investment to enable economic development.
“Telecoms is the sector that enables all other sectors to participate in the gigabit society. It is critical that European governments avoid artificial auction constructs which fail to strike a healthy balance for the industry,” Read said.
