Estonia announces auction of 4G licenses

Photo: Mihkel Maripuu / Postimees

The Estonian Technical Surveillance Authority has announced an auction of frequency licenses for the 790-862 megaherz frequency band the winners of which will be able to start developing a fourth-generation universal electronic communications network.

The agency will grant three licenses in all. One of the licenses will be issued by way of a beauty contest the conditions of which include the starting date of service provision in a network covering at least 95 percent of the territory of Estonia with data service with a minimum speed of five Mbps. The license fee is one million euros.

The remaining two licenses will be put on auction with a starting price of 1.6 million euros. The auction guarantee is 200,000 euros and bidders' revenues from electronic communication services must have amounted to at least one million euros in the previous year.

The bidding deadline is May 23.