A draft of detailed auction rules for the award by auction of spectrum in the 2.6GHz band in the Netherlands has been published for consultation with operators. DotEcon has provided advice on the auction rules and has been contracted to implement this auction.
The auction rules describe the use of a combinatorial clock auction format, with a clock stage that allows for package bidding followed up by a supplementary bids round to establish winners and base prices. This will be followed up by an assignment round to allocate specific frequencies to winners and establish the associated prices for this allocation.
The Netherlands is set to be the first country to use an auction to establish the break-down of spectrum to be awarded to paired and unpaired uses in this band. The consultation will be closed for responses from 21 July. It is currently estimated that this auction will take place in the first quarter of 2010.