Germany’s Federal Network Agency (FNA, known locally as the Bundesnetzagentur or BNetzA) has announced the final auction rules and award conditions for its upcoming 5G spectrum sale. Alongside this, the regulator has officially opened the qualification procedure for admission to the auction, which is scheduled to take place in spring 2019. Companies wishing to participate in the spectrum sale have until 3pm on 25 January 2019 to submit their applications.
The award conditions include obligations for better coverage in both urban and rural areas as well as along transport routes, plus measures to promote competition, such as service provider regulations and national roaming requirements. The coverage obligations for the 2100MHz and 3.6GHz licence winners include a requirement to supply speeds of a minimum of 100Mbps to at least 98% of households in each state by the end of 2022, as well as all federal highways, and the main roads and railways. By the end of 2024, 5G spectrum holders will be obliged to provide speeds of 100Mbps to all other main roads, while covering the smaller roads, railways, seaports and the main waterways with data rates of at least 50Mbps. Furthermore, each operator will have to set up 1,000 5G base stations by the end of 2022, in addition to 500 base stations in so-called ‘white spot’ unserved rural areas. For any potential newcomers, separate coverage requirements apply.