On 24 August 2016, ComReg (the Irish telecoms regulator) published the Information Memorandum for the forthcoming award of spectrum rights of use for the 3.6GHz frequency band in Ireland.
A total of 350MHz of spectrum will be offered using a TDD band plan in two blocks, separated by a frequency block currently allocated to state services: 325MHz (3475MHz-3800MHz) above state services, and 25MHz (3410MHz-3435MHz) below. The frequencies will be allocated on a regional basis, with a total of nine distinct regions (one for each of the five largest urban centres – Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway – and the the rest of the country split into another four regional areas). Each bidder is allowed to bid for up to a maximum of 150MHz of spectrum in any given region.
The auction will follow a similar format to that used for the 2012 Multi-Band Spectrum Award, namely a combinatorial clock auction with the so-called ‘relaxed activity rules’. This auction format has been designed to ensure that bidders are able to express complex valuation structures in their bids without facing aggregation or substitution risks, to improve price discovery during the open rounds, and to more closely align the outcome at the end of the primary bid rounds with the final auction results.
DotEcon has advised ComReg on the design of the auction process and will be implementing the auction using its WebBidder online bidding platform.
More information on the award is available on the ComReg website.