The Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) has published its plan to award spectrum in the 2GHz and 3.6GHz bands.
Background: BNetzA has been working on this spectrum award since September, and ran a consultation until 12 October 2018.
What’s new? BNetzA took into account the comments expressed by stakeholders in the consultation, and strengthened some requirements of the initial draft. Coverage obligations for roads and railways are now more stringent (98% of the population, and federal roads and railways have to be covered with 100Mbps speeds by 2022; state roads, ports, other railways with 50Mbps by 2024). Infrastructure sharing and roaming requirements are also set out, with a duty to negotiate introduced and monitored by BNetzA.
Next steps: the auction is scheduled for Spring 2019. BnetzA has not yet indicated a more precise date. The draft text is now pending final approval which is expected to occur on 26 November 2018.
