As essential as licensed spectrum might be for mobile operators, price and quantity still matter. Consider a recent Egyptian government offer to license 4G spectrum available in 2.5-MHz and 5-MHz blocks.
None of the three Egyptian mobile operators placed a bid, suggesting both that the price was too high, and the amount of spectrum too low.
On the other hand, Telecom Egypt, the state-run fixed-line provider, did buy a 4G license, allowing it to enter the mobile market for the first time as a facilities-based provider.
On the other hand, Telecom Egypt, the state-run fixed-line provider, did buy a 4G license, allowing it to enter the mobile market for the first time as a facilities-based provider.
The National Telecom Regulatory Authority now says it will consider options for offering the new licenses to new international operators.
Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications, Orange Egypt and Etisalat Misr all have twice declined to submit bids.
The GSMA has called for boosting the amount of spectrum available, arguing that the total amount of spectrum assigned to each operator for 4G needs to be in the range of 2x30MHz to 2x60MHz, across a range of coverage and capacity bands, with a minimum contiguous bandwidth of 2x10MHz in each band.
In contrast, only 2×2.5MHz to 2x5MHz were proposed to mobile operators by the Egyptian authorities.
GSMA also argues that the proposed prices were too high as well.
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