Spectrum Pricing and Renewals in Europe

The GSMA’s “Spectrum Pricing and Renewals in Europe” report examines what’s needed for the region to achieve its digital targets and address growing pressure to keep pace with other leading global regions.

One of the challenges standing in the way is spectrum costs. In the last 10 years, total spectrum costs in Europe, as a proportion of revenue, have tripled to around 8%.2 The reason for this is that the revenue generated from each MHz unit of spectrum has declined by 54% since 2014, but the price of spectrum has not declined to the same extent, according to the report.

Even though most spectrum has been assigned via auctions, the prices paid by mobile operators have often been driven by non-market factors, such as high reserve prices, annual fees, and auction design decisions that have limited the amount of spectrum available and therefore artificially inflated spectrum costs.

Fortunately, policymakers have an opportunity to address this, as more than 500 spectrum licences are due for renewal in the next decade. Given the evidence set out in the report, policy tools such as the DNA should ensure that Europe’s regulators take the following actions:

• Prioritise enhancing certainty and investment incentives in renewal assessments.
• Simplify and optimise the renewal process by applying administrative extensions.
• Automatically renew licences with an indefinite duration.
• Do not set aside spectrum for a new entrant or for localised use.
• Renew licences well in advance of the licence expiry date.
• Engage with the mobile industry to meet well-defined and achievable connectivity targets where they are needed.
• Ensure that mobile operators have at least 2 GHz of mid-band spectrum by 2030 to deploy 6G.

To learn more, please download the report.