700MHz, 1400MHz and 2100MHz spectrum bands were allocated
The Netherlands’ Ministry of Economic Affairs & Climate Policy announced the completion of the country’s 5G multi-band auction, allocating nationwide 700MHz, 1400MHz and 2100MHz spectrum under 20-year concessions to the three participants, incumbent mobile operators KPN, VodafoneZiggo, T-Mobile Netherlands, for respectively 416 million EUR, 416 million EUR and 400 million EUR.
Each operator won 2×10MHz in the 700MHz band and 2×20MHz in the 2100MHz band. In the 1400MHz band, KPN and VodafoneZiggo bought 1×15MHz each and T-Mobile acquired 1×10MHz.
Spectrum in the 700MHz and 1400MHz will become available immediately, the 2100MHz licences will be available from early 2021. Licences include coverage obligations of 98% geographic coverage of all domestic municipalities.
The 3.6 GHz auction is planned for 2022 as the band is currently used for satellite communications. Spectrum at 3400-3450 MHz and 3750-3800 MHz is intended to be made available for local use.
In late April, VodafoneZiggo announced the activation of its 5G network across more than half of the Netherlands. In partnership with Ericsson, the operator implemented 5G services via its existing antennas and Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology which allows operators to dynamically allocate some of their existing 4G LTE spectrum to 5G. Rival operators KPN and T-Mobile expect to launch its 5G network in the coming months.
