Romania's telecommunications authority Ancom said it will grant 5G licences by the end of 2019 in its position paper on granting rights to use radio frequencies available in the 700 MHz, 800 MHz, 1500 MHz, 2600 MHz and 3400-3800 MHz frequency bands. It expects to complete the tendering procedure for the spectrum available in these bands by 31 October. The winning operators will be able to use part of the spectrum from 1 January 2020.
Auction organisation
By 15 August, Ancom will propose the amendment of the National Table of Radio Frequency Allocation to assign the 700 MHz band to mobile services, as this band is now assigned to the broadcasting service. Following a public consultation with the industry, the authority will prepare and finalise the necessary documentation for the auction's organisation by the end of August.
Spectrum available in the auction
Ancom will make available 2x30 MHz (FDD) and 1x15 MHz (SDL) blocks in the 700 MHz band, 2x5 MHz (FDD) blocks in the 800 MHz range, 1x40 MHz (SDL) block in the 1500 MHz band and 2x40 MHz (FDD) blocks in the 2600 MHz band.
For the 3400-3800 MHz band, 90 MHz (TDD operating mode) will be allocated over a shorter period of 6 years (between 01 January 2020 and 31 December 2025) and 400 MHz (under TDD) for a longer term of 10 years (between 01 January 2026 and 31 December 2035). The purpose of granting rights of use for a shorter period is to align the expiry date of those rights with those already granted in this frequency band under the 2015 selection procedure, Ancom said.
The rights to use the spectrum in the 700 MHz and 1500 MHz bands will have a 15-year validity period, beginning on 1 January 2021 for the 700 MHz band and 1 January 2020 for the 1500 MHz band. No rights of use were so far allocated for these bands, the authority said.
Ancom plans to grant licenses for the spectrum in the 800 MHz and 2600 MHz bands for 10 years. It said it will analyse options for aligning expiry dates with existing rights in these bands which are available until 5 April 2029.
Telekom Romania Mobile Communications, Orange and Vodafone have rights of use in the 800 MHz band until 5 April 2029. Also, Telekom Romania, Orange, Vodafone and RCS&RDS have rights to use frequencies in the 2600 MHz band until the same date.
Auction procedure
To allocate the spectrum, Ancom said it will apply a competitive selection procedure similar to that organised in 2012, which requires each interested operator to submit an initial bid indicating the number of blocks it wants to acquire in each of the available bands. Initial bids will show if there is a higher demand than the amount of spectrum available in some of the bands, if the demand is equal to the number of bands available in each bands (spectrum categories) or if the demand does not exceed the amount of spectrum available.
The auction's starting prices for each frequency block, set according to the frequency allocation procedure for the concerned bands, will be determined from the minimum fees set in accordance with the rules in force for the licensing of frequencies in the concerned bands.
