Belgian's three main mobile operators have submitted bids to take part in the country's 800-MHz spectrum auction in November, meaning no new entrant wants to enter the LTE market there.
The regulator, the Belgian Institute For Postal Services And Telecommunications (BIPT), said it received applications by the deadline of Sept. 23 from Base Company, which is part of KPN, Belgacom and Mobistar, which is 52.91 per cent owned by Orange through Atlas Services Belgium (ASB).
All three operators have been approved to participate in the auction, which is due to start on Nov. 12, 2013. A total of three licences are available, each consisting of 2x10 MHz of spectrum and available for a 20-year term. The minimum price is €120 million ($162 million) per licence, and each bidder is only permitted to buy one licence.
The lack of a new entrant appears to indicate that the auction is unlikely to raise much beyond the minimum price of the licences.
Tecteo Telenet Bidco, the owner of the fourth 3G licence in the country, has already struggled to fulfil its obligations for the 3G licence and is currently using Mobistar's network to offer mobile services. In August, BIPT fined TTB for not meeting the obligation to launch 3G services by Jan. 15, 2013 and gave it six months to ensure that the infringement is remedied.
The progress of the 800 MHz auction can be followed here.
For more:
- see this BIPT release
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