Strategy for spectrum licence award
Project experience | Spectrum
The problem
The National IT and Telecoms Agency of Denmark (NITA) wished to award licences in the 2.5MHz band via an auction, in line with EC Decision 2008/477/EC on the harmonisation of the 2500–2690MHz band for terrestrial systems capable of providing electronic communication services in the European Community, and was seeking advice on candidate uses and technologies to use the available spectrum, and design of spectrum packaging, auction format and licence conditions.
The solution
Along with economic consultancy DotEcon, Analysys Mason supported the Danish regulator (NITA) to design an award process for the 2.6GHz band.
This included assessing candidate uses and technologies, potential bidders and the business case for likely bidders. We then assisted NITA with marketing of the available licences through a series of meetings with potential bidders and associated stakeholder events. Based upon requirements for different candidate uses and the relevant EC and ECC Decisions, we determined appropriate spectrum packaging for the Danish market (for example division of paired and unpaired bands) and considered potential co-existence issues between different uses. The final stages of the project were to determine an appropriate auction format and to draft the necessary consultation documents and the Information Memorandum for the auction.
The result
With the auction design in place, the auction was subsequently run using electronic auction software developed by DotEcon.
The auction proved to be a success with TDC, Telia, Telenor and Hi3G winning licences at competitive prices.
The team
The team was able to use its extensive experience on advising on national, regional and international spectrum management and policy to provide the necessary blend of market, financial and technical advice to NITA. The team was able to use its extensive knowledge of 3G and 4G mobile market and technology developments to advise the client on a suitable approach to the spectrum award taking account of likely uses and users.