Estonia’s Minister of Entrepreneurship and Information Technology, Andres Sutt, is proposing to offer three licences in the country’s much-delayed auction of 5G-capable 3.5GHz spectrum. The concessions will each include 130MHz of spectrum between 3410MHz and 3800MHz, he said. A sale of 3.5GHz licences is now expected in the first quarter of next year, with the process having been held up by disagreements on the number of concessions that should be offered, as well as by changes to the Electronic Communications Act.
In a statement the minister said: ‘Today’s decision marks the end of very long negotiations that held back the development of high speed internet and 5G in Estonia. This issue has been discussed for the last 2-3 years, under the leadership of several different IT ministers, and now we have come to a conclusion.’ Estonia is home to three mobile network operators (MNOs): Telia, Elisa and Tele2.