The Spanish Government acted quickly, awarding this spectrum with favourable conditions
A quick auction with only three operators involved: The Spanish auction of 700MHz spectrum started on 20 July, and was completed a day later. The three participating operators (Orange, Telefonica, Vodafone) shared the paired spectrum equally, obtaining 2x10MHz each. In total, operators paid €1.01bn, compared to a reserve price of €970m. Orange and Vodafone each paid the reserve price for their spectrum (€350m), whereas Telefonica paid €310m for the lot subject to stricter coverage obligations. All operators have coverage obligations to meet between 2022 and 2025, but Telefonica has an additional list of municipalities to cover.
Operators got a better deal than their French and Italian counterparts: The auction resulted in Spanish operators paying just 0.42 $/MHz/pop for this spectrum. This is almost half as much as the price paid by French operators (0.83) and still less than that paid by Italian MNOs (0.67). Operators in the UK and Germany got a better deal (0.29 and 0.24 $/MHz/pop, respectively) although German operators secured their licences in 2015 and were only able to start using that spectrum between 2018 and 2019. The 15MHz of unpaired (SDL) spectrum went unsold, as has been the case with the majority of 700MHz auctions in Europe so far. Our 5G Tracker indicates that SDL spectrum has been offered in seven out of 18 countries, and only in four cases have operators obtained any.
The Government listened to industry: One of the reasons for such a rapid conclusion of the auction is perhaps that the Government improved the licence conditions compared to initial proposals. In May, the Government’s 5G Roadmap aimed to pursue a “sustainable model” for 5G deployment. This resulted in lengthier licences (20 years with an option to renew for another 20) and a 15% reduction in the reserve price. The Government also refrained from imposing wholesale access obligations, which were included in the draft of the initial consultation.
Source: https://portal.mineco.gob.es/es-es/comunicacion/Paginas/210531_np_5g.aspx
