From October 2020, the Europe Spectrum service now covers 21 European countries. Greece, the latest country to be included, has just launched its 5G auction and plans to award the 700 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 3.4‑3.8 GHz and 26 GHz bands before the end of 2021.

A new benchmark summarises best practices for licensing in the traditional mobile bands of 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz. These bands are now almost fully awarded, with only four countries having awarded less than 90% of the 590 MHz available. The licences typically have national scope, offering operators contiguous blocks of spectrum in multiples of 2x5 MHz.

The updated design of our benchmark on the regulation of the 700 MHz band shows past and planned awards, and progress on clearing the band from broadcasting and planned other uses of the band (in particular for public protection and disaster relieve, machine-to-machine communications etc.).
EU member states should have enabled the use of the 700 MHz band for wireless broadband by 30 June 2020. Only 13 member states cleared the band from broadcasting by this deadline, with seven member states awarding new licences to mobile operators. Only five member states did both before the deadline: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany and Sweden.

To access the full set of Spectrum benchmarks, please click on “Access the full content” - or on “Request Access”, in case you are not subscribed to our European Spectrum service.