Operators spend €66m in Finland's 700MHz spectrum auction

25 November 2016 | James Pearce

Finnish operators have paid more than €66 million to acquire new 700MHz spectrum in the country’s latest auction.

The auction ran until 24 November with licenses payable across five annual instalments. The fee agreed was the reserve price set by the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, which offered six pairs of frequency blocks of 5MHz each.

To secure the licenses, the operators agreed to provide 4G coverage to at least 99% of Finland’s population by 2020, although both DNA and Elisa said they had already hit the target with their existing networks. Telia, which operates under the Sonera name, said its coverage is 97% at this time.

DNA said it will used the spectrum to build up its 4G capacity in sparsely populated areas, while Elisa promised to start construction of 700-MHz-enabled 4G networks next year.

Telia said: "Our customers' demand for connectivity and the popularity of on-demand video on mobile terminals drive mobile data growth, and the frequencies will provide more capacity in the network. In the future, the frequencies are expected to be used also with new generation 5G networks.”