€66m raised in 700 MHz auction

Finland has auctioned parts of the 700 MHz band to three bidders, raising a total of €66.33 million.

The auction took place on 24 November, and the winning bidders were DNA, Elisa and TeliaSonera Finland.

A total of six paired frequency blocks of 5 MHz each were auctioned within the range of 703–733 and 758–788 MHz.

No more than two paired frequency blocks were allowed to be allocated to any individual enterprise, organisation or association.

The starting price for a paired frequency block was €11 million.

DNA Oy paid €11m for each of the FDD1 and FDD2 frequency pairs.

Similarly, Elisa Oyj paid €11m for each of the FDD3 and FDD4 frequency pairs.

And TeliaSonera Finland Oyj paid €11m for the FDD5 pair and €11.33m for the FDD6 pair.

The winning bidders will be awarded licences for a fixed period of 17 years. Those licences will cover the whole of Finland with the exception of the Region of Åland.

Operations within the frequency bands can begin no earlier than 1 February 2017.

There had been two previous spectrum auctions in Finland — for 2.5 GHz spectrum in 2008 and for 800 MHz spectrum in 2013.