The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformationthrough the Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructures, has opened a public consultation on the bases and announcement of the auction for the bidding of one of the highest priority bands for 5G deployment in Europe: the 26GHz band. This order, which is submitted for consultation, plans to tender 12 state concessions in the public radio domain (2,400 MHz) and 38 regional concessions (400 MHz). These will be tendered in blocks of 200 MHz for 20 years, which can be extended for another 20 years.
The general rules of the auction for the award of 26 GHz band concessions, which will be carried out through an open procedure, are also detailed in the consultation. This consultation will be open until October 27, 2022 and can be consulted on this website. 00
This action is one of the steps planned by the Government during the second half of 2022 of those included in the Recovery Plan. Specifically, it is an action that is part of the 5G Technology Promotion strategy and the Spain Digital 2026 agenda.
As we have mentioned, the 26 GHz band is one of the priorities for introducing 5G-based services in Europe, especially considering that the use of this band for mobile communications services is already harmonized in the European Union. In addition, within the digital Spain 2025 strategy, which was updated last July with the launch of Digital Spain 2026the promotion of 5G technology is one of its strategic axes.
On the other hand, one of the objectives to promote 5G technology is the availability of a radio spectrum duly enabled for the services of said technology. Specifically, one of the lines of action of these strategies is to provide the market with dedicated frequency bands for 5G technology. Among them is the 26 GHz band. The reform of the allocation of this band is included in the government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan for the coming years.
