radio spectrum regulation

NMHH, the Hungarian telecoms regulator, announced an auction of 180 MHz of spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands to be held at the end of January or beginning of February 2021.

Regulator RÚ announced on 23 November 2020 the results of the auction which awarded the 700 MHz band and some spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands. O2, Orange and Slovak Telekom each won a third of the 700 MHz band.

Entel, Movistar, Wom and Claro submitted their bids for the 3.5 GHz band, while Wom decided to participate in the bid for all four separate 5G spectrum tenders. For higher bands, only Claro, Entel and Wom submitted their bids. Meanwhile, the competition authority opened a consultation procedure to determine whether the terms of the 5G spectrum award are in accordance with the competition rules of the country. This procedure may delay the next steps in the 5G process schedule.

The Czech 5G auction yielded CZK 5.6bn and delivered another new entrant in the 3.4–3.6 GHz band. Existing MNOs won the 700 MHz band, with no interest from new entrants in this band. New entrants are entitled to regulated national roaming and a wholesale offer.

The regulator, IFT, is consulting on the future allocation of 6 GHz spectrum, paving the way to potentially authorising the unlicensed use of this band and making spectrum available for devices compatible with Wi-Fi 6. Interested parties may comment until 18 December 2020.

On 3 November 2020, the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) published a proposal to establish two different scenarios to auction the 3.3–3.8 GHz band and 800 MHz in the 24.25–27.5 GHz band for 5G; and allocate the 5.925–6.425 GHz band for unlicensed use, such as Wi-Fi 6E or 5G NR-U. The public consultation is open until 3 December 2020.