Despite some spectrum auctions being delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Finnish telecoms regulator Traficom has announced that it plans to press on with the auction of 5G spectrum, opening registration for a mmWave auction in May.
“Assigning the 26 GHz band for 5G by auction enhances Finland’s position as the 5G leader,” read the Traficom auction announcement. “The additional frequencies for communications networks deploying new technology offer additional capacity and greater speed for communications connections.”
The auction will include three licences in the 26GHz band, each offering access to an 800MHz block of spectrum covering all of mainland Finland, with a starting price of €7 million. Registrations must be submitted to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom by 20 May 2020, with winners clear to commence network construction on July 1st.
This will be the fifth auction
“In Europe, three frequency bands have been identified as pioneer bands for 5G networks."
Traficom.
To date, there have been four spectrum auctions in Finland: the 2500-2690 MHz frequency band was auctioned in 2009; the 791-831 MHz/832-862 MHz auction was held in 2013; the 703-733/758-788 MHz auction in 2016; and the 3410-3800 MHz auction in 2018.
“In Europe, three frequency bands have been identified as pioneer bands for 5G networks,” Traficom said. “In Finland, the 700 MHz band and the 3.5 GHz band are already assigned for this purpose through the previous auctions, and the third pioneer band of 26 GHz will be auctioned in summer 2020.”
Finland was one of the first countries in the world to grant licences for 5G networks, and will grant more frequencies per operator in the 26 GHz band than any other country in the world.
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