Poland’s government is reportedly planning to commence the process of licensing 3.5GHz spectrum within weeks.
Local outlet Puls Biznesu reported that the Office of Electronic Communications (Urzad Komunikacji Elektronicznej, UKE) is set to open applications for bidding. While the auctions were originally scheduled for August, they are now expected to be held in Q4 2023.
UKE held an initial public consultation in December 2022 and a second in April 2023, between which it opted to increase the total holding covered by each licence from 80MHz to 100MHz while retaining the reserve price per block at PLN450 million (US$108 million). The regulator also reined in the network coverage obligations attached to each licence.
Poland is one of just two countries in the EU – along with the Netherlands - that has thus far not auctioned spectrum in the 5G-capable 3.5GHz band. CommsUpdate notes that this has not prevented commercial 5G launches in the market, with Play, Plus, Orange and T-Mobile all using 2100MHz and 2600MHz spectrum to launch commercial 5G services between May and June 2020.
