www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Nine bidders have qualified for the Dutch auction of 2.6GHz radio frequency licenses which will start on 20 April. The applications from potential bidders have been evaluated by the spectrum regulator Agentschap Telecom. The government has already held the trial auction in the month of December and the other will follow before the final bidding.

The government expected to issue the licenses in late May or early June depending upon how long the auction runs. The licenses are available for Wimax or LTE services and are expected to open the way for at least three new service providers on the market.

Out of 190 MHz, 135MHz will be received by the newcomers. A cap of 20 MHz has been subjected upon the existing mobile operators Vodafone Netherlands, KPN and T-Mobile Netherlands. The operator’s existing holdings in the 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands have been taken into account, among which Vodafone has the smallest amount.

Unpaired licenses are offered in blocks of 5 MHz while licenses for paired use will be offered in blocks of 2×5 MHz. Out of 25 blocks, 13 are for paired use, 12 are for unpaired use, and 38 licenses are available.