The Spanish government said the consultation period on the move will remain open until June 12
Spain’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has launched a public consultation on potentially extending the length of time that current spectrum license holders have access to radio spectrum.
If approved, this will enable the extension of current mobile licenses up to 40 years in total.
The move is part of the implementation of Spain’s General Telecommunications Law, which entered into force in June 2022, the government said. That law, it added, “aims to promote the deployment of modern and innovative electronic communications networks and encourage investment in the sector.”
“The extension of the duration of the concessions for the use of the radioelectric public domain with a limitation of number already granted up to 40 years, confers greater stability in the exploitation of these frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum for the operators and favors that the operators can amortize in a period of investments demanded by the telecommunications sector for a longer time,” the government’s statement reads.
The consultation period will remain open until June 12.
Previously, the term of the concessions was 20 years, but the new regulation established a maximum period of up to 40 years, following the guidelines of the new Electronic Communications Code of the European Union.
According to local press reports, this potential extension implies that the frequencies used by the operators for 2G, 4G and 5G services, such as the 800 MHz and 900 MHz bands as well as the 1.8 GHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands, which were expected to expire around 2028 or 2030, will now be extended to 2040.
Additionally, the 3.5 GHz licenses, which were originally expected to expire between 2030 and 2038, will be extended for a 10-year period.
In January, Spanish operators Telefónica, Orange and Vodafone secured additional spectrum to expand 5G services after the government completed a tender to award frequencies in the 26 GHz band.
Telefónica secured 1 gigahertz of spectrum for a total of 20 million euros ($21.1 million), while Orange and Vodafone have obtained 400 megahertz for 8 million euros each.
The Spanish government confirmed it raised a total of 36.2 million euros in the auction. The concessions will have a duration of 20 years, extendable only once for another 20 years.
In July 2021, the Spanish government raised a total of 1.1 billion euros in the 700 MHz spectrum auction, with Telefónica, Vodafone and Orange securing these key frequencies to expand 5G services.
The Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs had said that each 700 MHz license will have a duration of 20 years, rising to a maximum of 40 years.
Spanish operators have already launched 5G services through spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, which was awarded in 2018.
