Spain’s largest telecoms operators have called on the government to postpone the auction of 26GHz bandwidth for 5G planned for later this year. Masmovil, Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone and other players believe there is no demand for the new frequencies at present and called for a delay to the auction until 2023 or 2024, Europapress reported.
In their response to the telecoms ministry’s public consultation over the 26 GHz frequencies, the last remaining unauctioned priority tier in Spain, the operators said a sale makes no sense currently.
Industry sources told Europapress that operators are already having to cope with vast existing investments in their 5G roll-outs with strict coverage targets and that devices compatible with 26GHz don’t yet exist.
According to the news agency, a total of 30 industry players participated in the consultation process, with equipment makers divided over the need for an auction in 2022.
It said the government still plans to go ahead with the bidding process at the end of the year and hopes to raise EUR 127 million.
El artículo original puede consultarse en: