Coverage obligation for 800 MHz spectrum

Coverage obligation for 800 MHz spectrum met in nine federal states

Homann: "Broadband rollout progressing rapidly"

Year of issue 2012
Date of issue 2012.05.07

As announced today by the Bundesnetzagentur, mobile operators have now met their coverage obligation for 800 MHz spectrum in Saxony as well. As a result, the three mobile operators Telekom Deutschland GmbH, Vodafone D2 GmbH and Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG can now make unrestricted use of the 800 MHz spectrum bought at auction in that federal state too.

"By now, rollout requirements have been met in nine of the 13 federal states with insufficient broadband services. I assume that further federal states will follow soon. The companies started to roll out broadband soon after the auction and work progresses rapidly. I expect the companies to continue using the spectrum efficiently after the restrictions have been removed so that broadband coverage will be further increased", Jochen Homann, Bundesnetzagentur President, declared.

In spring 2010 an auction was held for wireless access spectrum in the 800 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 2.0 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands. At that time, an obligation for the phased rollout of broadband was imposed on the 800 MHz spectrum assignments. Prior to the auction, the federal states had identified towns and districts with little or no broadband coverage, which were grouped into four priority levels depending on their number of inhabitants.

Network operators holding 800 MHz spectrum are required to provide broadband access gradually to the towns and villages in the federal states according to priority levels. First, mobile broadband is to be brought to towns and villages with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants (priority level 1). Larger towns will follow in the subsequent stages. When the coverage obligation has been fulfilled in a federal state, assignment holders can make unrestricted use of the 800 MHz spectrum there. In assessing whether the rollout requirements are met all technologies used (radio, DSL, cable, etc) are taken into account.

The coverage obligation is now met in the following federal states: Baden Württemberg, Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein.

Press release (pdf / 822 KB)

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