The Belgian government has presented its plan for the future of mobile spectrum. Regulator BIPT launched a public consultation, with market participants asked to respond by 21 January. Federal minister Vincent van Quickenborne wants to alter the law as well as a few royal decrees. In his proposal, the three existing operators would be able to extend their GSM licences against payment, from end-2015 to the beginning of 2021 with a minimum of 10 MHz in the 900 MHz band. A fourth UMTS player would be able to acquire both 2100 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum. An auction would be held for 4G frequencies in the 2500 MHZ to 2690 MHz band. The spectrum is currently shared by three players, with a fourth UMTS licence still on offer. The government was planning to let all licences expire in 2013 but the court of appeal rejected the move. Belgacom and Mobistar will now have their licences tacitly extended until 2015.
One amendment would be for operators to pay a one-time fee to extend licences. The other amendment would allow BIPT to impose measures on national roaming in order to ease in a fourth player.
In 2001, there were only three candidates for the four UMTS licences. The fourth licence was never awarded. The government now wants to auction this licence again and also make room for the newcomer within the existing spectrum. The current three operators would be able to extend their licences until 15 March 2021. The still-to-be auctioned fourth UMTS licence would also run until that date. The two biggest operators would then on 27 November 2015 surrender a part of their 900 and 1800 MHz spectrum. The released 4.8 MHz in the 900 band and 10 MHz in the 1800 band would go to the buyer of the fourth UMTS licence.
The 4G area between 2500 MHz and 2690 MHz will also be auctioned, with all existing and new players invited to bid. Two scenarios have been presented for market consultation. In the first scenario, four lots of 2x15 MHz and two lots of 2x5 MHz are released. These are then distributed with a cap of 20 MHz duplex per buyer, unless there are fewer than four candidates. In the second scenario, an larger number of 5 Mhz duplexes will be auctioned.
BIPT published in 2008 a draft that would put an end to the automatic renewal of GSM licences and had all licences running until 2013. BIPT wanted to completely change the landscape in 2013. On 17 July 2009, a new Royal Decree was approved by the cabinet. The decree still provided for an auction of the fourth UMTS licence and a re-distribution of GSM frequencies (900 MHz band) sometime in 2013. The redistribution would give four mobile players the chance to buy frequencies and enable the three existing mobile operators to extend their licences with a minimum of 10 MHz until 2030. At the end of July of September 2009, a court of appeal however rejected the move to shorten Mobistar and Proximus’ GSM licences. The decision allowed the GSM licences for Proximus and Mobistar (900 MHz) to be automatically extended for another five years.
