Orange Belgium, Proximus and Telenet Group have secures spectrum in the 1,400MHz band
The Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT) concluded the final phase of the radio spectrum auction, which raised 216.5 million euros ($221.2 million) bringing the total amount for the two auction phases to 1.42 billion euros.
On June 20, the BIPT stated it had closed the main phase of the auction, which began on June 1, with local operators Citymesh Mobile, Network Research Belgium, Orange Belgium, Proximus and Telenet Group securing frequencies for a period of 20 years.
In the main phase of the spectrum auction, the regulator auctioned frequencies for 5G services in the 700 MHz and 3.6 GHz bands, and 2G and 3G spectrum in 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz and 2.1 GHz, generating 1.2 billion euros.
Proximus committed to pay a total of 491 million euros for the new spectrum. The telco said it had obtained 20% more spectrum than all participating companies. Orange committed to pay 322 million euros for the frequencies and claimed it had secured the maximum amount of the available 5G spectrum frequencies, while Telenet committed to pay a total of 264.3 million euros.
Meanwhile, the regulator has now also concluded the second and final phase of the auction, which awarded a total of of 90 megahertz in the 1.4 GHz band. On March 18, 2022, the BIPT declared the three applications of the current mobile operators having their own networks, (Orange Belgium, Proximus and Telenet Group) to be admissible for the auction of the 1.4 GHz radio frequency band. These three carriers took part in the second phase of the spectrum auction.
The reserve price for the 90 megahertz of frequencies in the 1.4 GHz band was 46.5 million euros.
The regulator said that all three operators obtained user rights in the 1.4 GHz band during a simultaneous multiple round ascending auction.
Proximus was the first telco to launch 5G services in Belgium. The carrier currently uses existing radio frequencies in the 2.1 GHz band and has a temporary permit to use radio frequencies in the 3.6-3.8 GHz band.
Telenet, which is controlled by U.S. company Liberty Global, said that its 5G network is expected to reach nationwide coverage by 2025. Telenet started the gradual deployment of its 5G network in the country in December 2021.
