Auction for 4 frequency licenses in the 3.6 GHz band
06 March 2020
Implementing the strategic directions of the President of UKE in 2017-2021, we are announcing a frequency auction enabling the development of 5G network in Poland.
The auction will cover 4 nationwide frequency licenses in the 3.6 GHz band. Each booking will include an 80 MHz block and will be valid until June 30, 2035.
Only entities with relevant experience on the Polish telecommunications market and financial credibility will be allowed to participate in the auction. Each auction participant will be able to obtain one frequency license. For each of the four licenses, the starting price is PLN 450 million.
Auction conditions allow to obtain a sufficiently large, continuous spectrum block for the needs of modern wireless broadband services and they oblige entities to use it in accordance with the provisions of the Harmonization Decision of the Commission (EU) 2019/235.
The auction winners will be subject to obligations to develop networks, under which each operator will be required to launch a minimum of 700 base stations using the allocated frequencies by the end of 2025. By fulfilling these commitments, at least 2,800 base stations will be launched in Poland.
Thus, the auction will enable the development of high-speed networks in Poland, in particular using 5G technology.
The announcement of the auction meets the obligation to reorganize and to allow the use of sufficiently large blocks in the 3.6 GHz band by the end of 2020 in order to facilitate the implementation of the 5G network imposed on Member States in the European Electronic Communications Code (Article 54 in connection with recital 135 EECC).
The coverage obligations specified in the auction, according to the capacitive nature of the 3480-3800 MHz band, give an impulse to achieve the goals set by the European Commission, i.e.
• commercial launch of the 5G network in at least one large city at the end of 2020,
• ensuring access to the 5G network in all urban areas by the end of 2025.
• ensuring access to the 5G network in all urban areas by the end of 2025.
Information on the frequency sub-ranges excluded from licenses A and B
In the case of frequency sub-ranges excluded from licenses A and B (marked in Annex 1A and 1B to the auction documentation as "exclusion"), auction participants who receive A or B license will be able to obtain licenses for these sub-ranges immediately after they are released, as a completion of their license. In the opinion of the President of UKE, such action will enable fully effective use of frequencies covered by A and B licenses.