The coalition agreement contains a number of paragraphs about 5G. Over the coming five years, the Flemish government wants to pave the way for technology in all kinds of sectors, such as health care, transport, energy and climate, industry and government. Existing policy plans around artificial intelligence (AI), cyber security, I-Learn and mobile data will be continued and expanded.
Flanders region contributing to an open 5G network
An important role will be given to an open 5G network, "for an area-wide 5G network, according to an open model of infrastructure sharing on which all service providers can offer their services on equal terms. To guarantee that model, it will be necessary for the Flemish government to participate substantially in the initiatives of the operators. The Flemish Government wants to ensure that any additional players can participate under the same conditions," the coalition statement said.
Radio spectrum is essential for 5G. “Flanders wants 60 MHz of spectrum to be provided for regional applications and that a regional licensing model be developed for this. That 60 MHz spectrum will come on the 3.5 GHz band if there is no fourth player or via network slicing. If this fails, the 60 MHz can be provided on the 3.8 GHz band," the statement said.
5G for "Industry Verticals"
The coalition plan would give new, innovative players the opportunity to purchase spectrum for a specific demarcated area (eg airports, ports, large business parks, city centres, etc.). “For that, we want to move away from a 20-year allocation period and to more dynamic, short-term allocations that also allow spectrum allocation for specific events, festivals, sport happenings or other applications,” the statement continued.
To implement these objectives, the government of the Flemish Region will have to negotiate with the federal government. “We are negotiating with the federal government for a considerably higher share in the distribution of the one-off and annual revenues from the auction of the mobile broadband spectrum. This spectrum auction must be disconnected from the file of the fourth player," the statement reads.
De Tijd already reported that the government wants to cooperate with operators, but could not at that time give the full text for the coalition agreement, as it was not yet public. Datanews writes that Belgian technology industry group Agoria has welcomed the plans to make digital infrastructure a top priority, as well as for to auction the 3.6 GHz band separately. Agoria calls it a good move to disconnect that spectrum from the political blockage that has paralysed the larger mobile auction. Agoria almost has 2,000 business members.
BIPT working on a multi-band auction
Belgian regulator BIPT is preparing a Multiband auction, but it still depends on political decision-making. The federal government presented the plans mid-2018, with an auction set for the end of this year. A fourth operator was to join this time, a move which did not work for 3G. And then discussions got mired in how the expected EUR 680 million in revenues from the auction would be distributed. The regions are demanding more than the promised 20 percent. Talks had already stalled when Flanders went to the polls for their regional government.
The Multiband auction is the sum of six separate auctions, in different bands for mobile networks. It is also about two "new" bands, namely 700 MHz and 3400-3800M MHz. BIPT also has the spectrum that was kept free for the hoped-for fourth mobile operator. This concerns permits in 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2000 MHz. Then there are two more blocks with a different duration: a duplex in the 2000 MHz band is available from March 2021, and another became available in the 2.6 GHz band from July 1, 2017.
The fourth operator never came to be for 3G, due to all kinds of factors. Telenet was a candidate for a long time, but the company has since acquired KPN Belgium. The intended spectrum is therefore still on the shelf. Flanders no longer seems to want to wait anymore, and is looking for a different model for the competitive situation in 5G markets.
Operators explore Network Sharing
Proximus and Orange Belgium have signed a letter of intent to start working together and to share their infrastructure for the construction of 5G-capable networks. The shared network will, according to both companies, improve coverage, with a consolidated number of mobile sites expected to be around 20 percent higher compared to the current radio access network of each mobile provider individually. It is not yet known whether Telenet will be able to join that initiative.
