One of the most talked about news items of the last few weeks has been the conclusion of the FCC’s 600 MHz Incentive Auction. The Incentive Auction played out over four stages (starting at 100 MHz and descending to 70 MHz) and more than a year. The Auction was overall fairly successful, even though it…
The results of the Irish auction of 3.6 GHz licenses were announced by the regulator, ComReg, on May 22, 2017. Winning bids were €60.5 million (US$67.7 million). To this are added annual usage fees totalling €17.7 million (US$19.8 million) for a grand total of €78.2 million (US$87.5 million). The auction was for 350 MHz of capacity across…
In October 2016, the Iceland Post and Telecom Administration (Post-og Fjarskiptastofnun or PTA) published draft rules for an electronic auction of frequencies in bands 700, 2100, and 2600 MHz. Six parties submitted comments and the terms of the auction were updated to include licenses in the 800 MHz band. In March 2017, parties were invited to submit…
How much spectrum is required for 5G? The short answer is a lot. The detailed answer varies according to each carrier’s spectrum holdings but most carriers will need to double or more than double their spectrum holdings to offer quality 5G services. Spectrum in different bands will also be required for coverage and capacity… low,…
There were 5G announcements in 2016 in Canada but few details in terms of concrete plans from mobile carriers. Of note are technology trials completed by Bell and Nokia, conducted using 73 GHz spectrum, as well as TELUS and Huawei in Vancouver, where speeds of up to 29.3 Gbps were achieved as part of its…
The CRTC issued Telecom Notice of Consultation CRTC 2017-112 on April 25, 2017 to “examine matters related to the establishment of the broadband funding regime”. The CRTC is looking for inputs regarding both the governance, evaluation criteria and functioning of this new regime as well as which organizations would be eligible to receive funds. Comments…
The FCC’s 600 MHz auction ended March 28, 2017 with details released shortly thereafter… Licenses were sold at a “no-regrets” price of US$0.92 per MHz-pop – more than 60% “off” compared to AWS-3 and 35% less than 700 MHz licenses. And the winners were… some of the usual suspects, but bucking US auction history, AT&T…
2017 will be a busy year in Canada as ISED should launch a new consultation on the upcoming 600 MHz spectrum in anticipation of the closing of the FCC’s Incentive Auction. Critical questions will need to be properly addressed including compensation for broadcasters vacating this band. Some countries in Asia-Pacific are also looking at getting…
The Canadian government, CRTC as well as the Quebec government harmonized their objectives for broadband in Canada in late 2016 and started to work “hand in hand” so to speak to continue to bridge the digital divide across the country. These programs, namely the CRTC’s new broadband fund as well as the Canadian government’s Connect…