Participants came from national ministries responsible for spectrum policy and national regulatory bodies for electronic communications.
Participants confirmed the strategic importance of efficient and predictable authorisation procedures for spectrum bands for 5G, in particular 700 MHz, 3.4-3.8 GHz and 26 GHz (‘the pioneer bands’), and shared information on their plans to make such spectrum available for use in the EU by the agreed deadline of the end of 2020.
The discussion on the objectives for such award procedures focused on issues such as how to define and achieve territorial coverage objectives, timely and sufficient spectrum to meet demand, the best means to ensure availability of advanced services for local or industrial users, the scope for network sharing to lower deployment costs, quality of service and the maintenance of competition. No national authority present indicated that revenue maximisation from spectrum fees is among its objectives, which the Commission welcomed. Many authorities also mentioned their efforts to reduce costs of deployment or to facilitate access to sites for antennae; and the recent Commission recommendation on a coordinated approach to 5G security was welcomed.
Several Member States stated that they would voluntarily submit their planned spectrum assignments to an informal peer review by the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), which the Commission actively encourages.
The Commission and the Member States will continue to monitor the ongoing award procedures and to facilitate the exchange of best practices through both the RSPG and BEREC, with a view to a further discussion of progress in the second half of 2019.