Italian wireless ISP GO internet has launched an appeal with the Council of State (Consiglio di Stato, CdS) in an attempt to overturn a decision to not renew its 3.5GHz wireless broadband licence. In July 2018 3.5GHz concessions held by GO and others including Linkem and Tiscali (since sold to Fastweb) were renewed by regulator Agcom and the Ministry of Economic Development (MiSE), with the expiry date pushed back six years to end-2029. Cellcos TIM, Vodafone and Iliad, which paid large sums for 5G licences in an October 2018 auction, protested against the planned extension, arguing that companies such as GO were getting spectrum for free when they had spent billions of euros on their own licences.
In November 2019 the regional administrative court (Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale, TAR) in Lazio found in favour of the cellcos, although it added that its finding did not rule against the extension itself but solely the financial aspect of the renewal. GO internet, which uses its 3.5GHz spectrum to provide wireless broadband services in the Marche, Emilia-Romagna and Umbria regions of Italy, says its case is due to be heard by the CdS in March 2021.
A report from Mondo Mobile Web cites GO as saying that it ‘considers the criterion established for the contributions fair and correct’ and that it is ‘confident of the positive outcome of the degree of judgement’.