The Government publishes the bases and the call to tender the 26 GHz band

Nov. 5 () –

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, through the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, has published this Saturday the bases and the call for tenders for the 26 GHz band, the only priority for 5G that remains to be awarded.

Specifically, twelve nationwide concessions are being auctioned in the 200 MHz 25.10-27.50 GHz band, and 38 regional concessions in the 24.70-25.10 GHz band.

All the tendered concessions will assign the use of a 200 MHz block for uplink and downlink communications on the same frequency, but at different time intervals (TDD or Time Division Duplex).

The starting price of each national concession has been set at four million euros. In the case of regional concessions, the initial price is proportional to the population of the autonomous community or city under consideration.

The concessions will have a duration of 20 years, extendable only once for another 20 years, and are in accordance with the technical specifications established by the European Commission, in relation to the harmonization of the 24.25-27.5 GHz frequency band. for terrestrial systems capable of providing wireless broadband electronic communications services in the Union.

Companies interested in participating in the auction can submit their applications until 1:00 p.m. on December 7, 2022, the date after which a period of evaluation of said applications and training of those admitted in the use of the Electronic Platform will open. Auctions (PES) secure, to be used for the auction. Subsequently, the tender will begin, which is scheduled to start before December 22.

The ministry has recalled in a statement that this is one of the priority frequency bands for the deployment of 5G technology and its tender is one of the actions planned in the strategy to promote this technology.

The main operators in the country positioned themselves this summer against holding the auction of the 26 GHz band this year, and proposed postponing it until 2023 or 2024, until the technology to take advantage of it matures.

This is what the summary to the public consultation of the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures points out about their position: “They consider that there is currently no demand for this band, so it makes no sense to prepare an auction.”