Ireland Awards 5G Licenses To Five Mobile Operators As Demand Rises
By Jof Enriquez,
Follow me on Twitter @jofenriq
Ireland's Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has awarded 15-year licenses for the 3.6 Ghz spectrum to five mobile operators who paid €78 million ($87.8 million) between them for the right to offer 5G services.
The country will be fully deploying its 5G networks in 2021, which comes right in line with expectations from the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) worldwide 5G roadmap. However, data usage among mobile device users in Ireland reportedly is doubling annually, prompting the need to expand network capacity now to handle services that need wider bandwidth, such as streaming video.
"The result of the 3.6 GHz award represents a very good outcome for consumers, service providers and ComReg," said ComReg chairman Gerry Fahy, reported the Irish Independent.
"All 350 MHz of available spectrum, across the entire country, has been assigned at an important time as demand for wireless communications services continues to grow. Continuity for existing services has been underpinned and the possibility of new services has been significantly enhanced. In particular the characteristics of this band, coupled with its 5G potential, should ensure Ireland is well positioned to benefit from new technology and service enhancements in the years to come," added Fahy.
The five firms who won the auction will have until July 31, 2032 to utilize the 3.6 Ghz spectrum band. Collectively, they paid €60.5 million in upfront fees plus €17.7m in spectrum usage fees, for a total of more than €78 million.
- Vodafone: €23 million for 85 MHz in rural regions and 105 MHz in cities
- Three Ireland: €20 million for 100Mhz nationally
- Meteor Mobile Communications: €16 million for 80 MHz in rural regions and 85 MHz in cities
- Imagine Communications: €10 million for 60 MHz in four rural regions
- Airspan Spectrum: €10 million for 25MHz in rural regions and 60MHz in cities
"We had two objectives going into this auction. First, we wanted to ensure that those living outside main city areas could enjoy the same service as urban dwellers, by securing uniform spectrum frequency for all rural and urban areas," said Three Ireland CEO Robert Finnegan, reported Silicon Republic.
"Secondly, we wanted this uniform spectrum to be 100MHz, as this is the recognized optimum bandwidth for 5G and is internationally recommended to support 5G in spectrum bands below 6 GHz," Finnegan added.