Italian LTE auction resisted by military and TV broadcasters

The planned auction by the Italian government of the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands is being resisted by the current users of these frequencies. The government has already anticipated that this spectrum auction should raise around €2.4 billion, and has allocated the funds within its 2011 stability budget.

Of most concern is the Italian Defence ministry--which occupies the 2.6 GHz band today--which has indicated, according to the Italian daily La Repubblica, that it will only relinquish this spectrum to the Ministry of Economic Development in return for a corresponding fee.

The government encountered similar problems when it attempted to auction spectrum for WiMAX usage, causing the process to be delayed by several months.

While part of the 800 MHz band has already been assigned by draft decree for use by mobile operators, TV broadcasters, which presently use this band and initially supported the move, are now beginning to push back. Some local broadcasters have indicated their unwillingness to stop using channels 61-69 in the 800 MHz band, and accuse the government of not acting fairly. 

For more:
- see this La Repubblica article (translated via Google Translate)
- see this Telecompaper article

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