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Howells Invites Applications for 28GHz BFWA Auction |
DTI Press Release - 22 August
2000
Dr Kim Howells Minister for Competition and Consumer Affairs, today invited
applications from companies wishing to participate in the 28 GHz Broadband Fixed
Wireless Access (BFWA) auction.
Dr Howells said:
"I am delighted to invite applications for the auction of licences for
spectrum at 28 GHz in October 2000.
"Broadband Fixed Wireless Access offers an enhanced service that benefits
both business and consumers with cheap, fast internet and multimedia access
by radio links instead of a telephone line.
"We have decided on an auction process as it provides a fast, transparent,
fair and economically efficient way of allocating the scarce resource of radio
spectrum. The levels bid will reflect the bidders' own valuations of the licences
and the opportunities that they see for BFWA."
After a wide ranging consultation process, three spectrum licences in the 28
GHz band will be auctioned in each of the 11 English regions, plus Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland.
Reserve prices range from £4m per licence in London to £100k per
licence in Northern Ireland. Each licence will have a duration of 15 years and
a bandwidth of 2x112 MHz. A full list of reserve prices for each BFWA spectrum
licence is attached.
'Use it or lose it' obligations will be placed on all operators to ensure that
services are rolled out in a timely and efficient manner.
Notes to Editors
1. Reserve Prices for each BFWA Spectrum Licence
| Region A | Greater London | £4,000,000 |
| Region B | Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire | £3,000,000 |
| Region C | West Midlands, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Herefordshire | £3,000,000 |
| Region D | Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire | £2,000,000 |
| Region E | Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire | £2,000,000 |
| Region F | Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire | £2,000,000 |
| Region G | Derbyshire, Lincolnshire (other than the areas of North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire District Councils), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Rutland | £2,000,000 |
| Region H | Kent, Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex | £2,000,000 |
| Region I | East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the areas of North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire District Councils | £2,000,000 |
| Region J | Tyne and Wear, Durham, Northumberland, Cumbria and Lancashire | £1,000,000 |
| Region K | Bristol, Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire | £1,000,000 |
| Region L | Scotland | £1,000,000 |
| Region M | Wales | £1,000,000 |
| Region N | Northern Ireland | £100,000 |
2. Application instructions and details of the auction procedure are
contained in the Information
Memorandum published on 26 July 2000. It is available on the Radiocommunications
Agency website http://www.radio.gov.uk and in printed form from the Agency's
library:
Information and Library Service, Radiocommunications Agency Wyndham House, 189
Marsh Wall, London E14 9SX e-mail:library@ra.gsi.gov.uk
3. Regulations, under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1998, making provision
for the auction were laid before Parliament on 28 July 2000. They came into
force on 18 August 2000. The Notice setting out the auction procedures will
be published, provisionally on 22 August 2000.
The auction is set to begin on 16 October in line with the provisional timetable
below:
| Regulations came into force | - 18 August |
| Auction Notice issued | - 22 August |
| Submission of applications | - 5 September |
| Notification of successful pre-qualification | - 20 September |
| Notice of auction start | - 2 October |
| Auction starts | - 16 October |
| Possible auction finish (assuming three weeks) | - 6 November |
| Notification of pre-conditions by provisional winners | - 10 November |
| Award of Licences | - 8 December |
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P/2000/584 |
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