Advanced Television

Spain to award spectrum for 5G in Q1 2019

November 9, 2018

From David Del Valle in Madrid

The Spanish government plans to auction spectrum in the 700MHz band for 5G services in the first quarter of 2019.

Currently, DTT channels are using that band, but will release it by March 2020. DTT migration is expected to commence in January of next year. The government aims to raise up to €1.05 billion with the auction.

It will be the second auction – earlier this year the Administration awarded frequencies in the 3.6 GHz-3.9 GHz range for a total of €438 million.

Vodafone is rolling out 5G trials in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao, Malaga and Seville where it has already installed more than 30 antennas in collaboration with Chinese vendor Huawei.

Movistar has partnered with European vendors Nokia and Ericsson for the initial deployment of 5G capabilities in the cities of Segovia and Talavera de la Reina. The company aims to turn the two cities into living laboratories over the next three years, including the initial 5G capacity and the deployment of the new network allowing users to benefit from 5G technology.

Categories: 5G, Articles, Broadband, Satellite, Spectrum