Italy’s communications regulator Agcom has announced that the country’s first 5G spectrum tender will finally take place in September after it approved the final conditions. In a statement, the watchdog said it expected to raise at least EUR 2.5 billion from the tender run by the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) but that only half the amount would be raised this year. Italy is the first country in Europe to set the rules for assigning frequencies in a 5G auction, said Agcom, adding that spectrum will be made available in the 694-790 MHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz and 26.5-27.5 GHz bands in concessions lasting until 2037.
Two blocks of 80 MHz and 2 of 20 MHz (200 MHz in total) will be made available in the 3.6-3.8 GHz bands, with a spectrum cap of 100 MHz per operator, while the concessions in the 26.5-27.5 GHz bands will consist of five national 200 MHz lots (1 GHz in total) with a sharing model encouraged to prevent interference. A total of 30 MHz will be offered in the 700 MHz band (6x5 MHz) with two of the six blocks reserved for a “new entrant” (that is, any operator apart from TIM, Vodafone or Wind Tre) with a view to helping the development of a series of new players including pure infrastructure operators. According to the recent budget law, the 700 MHz frequencies won’t be available throughout Italy until July 2022.
