radio spectrum regulation

The Administrative Court of Cologne concluded that the German regulator BNetzA gave in to pressure from the ministry to impose stricter coverage obligations. That may have influenced BNetzA’s decision not to oblige mobile network operators to grant access to service providers and MVNOs.

The Peruvian government published a legislative decree to establish a special mechanism to directly assign additional spectrum for 5G at the request of interested parties. This mechanism will apply if there is no excess demand. Applicants will be subject to compliance with mandatory investment commitments aimed at closing gaps in access to telecommunications services.

The regulator SUTEL will award licences in the 700 MHz, 2.3 GHz, 3.5 GHz, 26 GHz, and 28 GHz bands. The auction stage of the award will have two phases, with the first offering national licences and the second offering local licences exclusively for entrant operators. Instead of offering financial bids, operators must bid for the number of antennas they commit to deploying in each band in addition to the reserve price.

Indotel, the Dominican Republic regulator, announced the results of the 5G multiband auction, which closed on 27 May 2024. Only Viva bid for the spectrum, but it did not meet the technical and economic requirements for the auction.

The Jamaican regulator, the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA), will award one national block of 2x20 MHz in the 600 MHz band through a beauty contest. The assignment of the licence will follow the conclusion of the clearing of the band by the current broadcasting user. The reserve price for the block is US$24m for a 15-year licence term with an obligation to cover 95% of the population within 24 months.

AKOS already awarded this spectrum for the provision of machine-to-machine (M2M) business-critical communications services in February 2021. However, the licensee returned the spectrum in 2023, prompting the regulator to repeat the award.