At the European level, three frequency bands for the initial deployment of 5G technology: the 3.4-3.8 GHz band, the 26 GHz band and the 700 MHz band (of the latter, its auction concluded in July). Of all of them, the 3.4-3.8 GHz band (n78), known as the 3.5 GHz band, is already being used by mobile operators for the first deployments in Spain.
Currently, it is distributed among the operators in scattered blocks of frequencies, which prevents a more efficient use of it. Orange and Telefónica reached an agreement in summer to rearrange the spectrum and thus have contiguous blocks. Now the CNMC has issued a report where, like the Government, it positively values this reorganization, although both consider that there should be no compensation for operators.
Reorganization, but without compensation
Initially, it was Vodafone, Orange and Telefónica that shared the spectrum of the 3.5 GHz band, together with MásMóvil, which bought the 40 MHz licensed block band from Eurona for frequencies between 3,400 and 3,420 MHz and 3,500 and 3,520 MHz. Later, Telefónica and Orange acquired 10 MHz more each.
With this new acquisition, Orange became the operator with the highest capacity at 3.5 GHz by accumulating a total of 110 MHz, followed by Telefónica, which adds up to 100 MHz. But yes, both one and the other, like MásMóvil, have their blocks dispersed. Vodafone, for its part, has 90 MHz contiguous. With all this, the current distribution of the 3.4-3.8 GHz band looks like this:
Last summer, Telefónica and Orange proposed to reorganize the spectrum so that everyone could have access to contiguous blocks of frequencies and thus make more efficient use of 5G. The agreement was later joined by MásMóvil and Vodafone, but the approval of the Government and the CNMC was lacking.
A few days ago, the CNMC received the Draft Order from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation that modifies the concessions of use of the 3.4-3.8 GHz frequency band. The proposed reorganization will allow operators to have their radio resources available in the following contiguous spectrum stretches:
The CNMC has now issued a report positively evaluating the Order Project that reorganizes the radio spectrum. It also considers that the six-month period to carry out said reorganization is adequate, but, contrary to what the operators’ agreement envisaged, neither the Government nor the CNMC believe it necessary to compensate the operators for this reorganization.
Specifically, this compensation refers to compensating MásMóvil and Telefónica for the costs that may arise as a result of the reorganization from the band. The reason that the CNMC alleges is, basically, that this reorganization of the spectrum brings benefits both for the operators themselves and for the market.
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