Finnish operators acquire LTE spectrum

Finland’s three main mobile operators – Elisa, TeliaSonera and DNA – were all successful in acquiring mobile broadband spectrum in a national auction that closed yesterday. The auction – in the 2500-2690MHz band - closed after five days and 27 rounds and raised EUR3.8 million for the government in total. Market-leader Elisa bid EUR834,700 for 50MHz of spectrum, TeliaSonera Finland bid EUR810,200 for 50MHz and DNA bid EUR675,700 for 40MHz. The spectrum will allow all three operators to launch LTE. There was also one block of spectrum suitable for WiMAX services, which was acquired by Finland’s Pirkanmaan Verkko, which paid EUR1.47 million for 50MHz. The auction was the first ever radio spectrum auction in Finland.

The Finnish government plans to offer high-speed broadband connections with a speed of at least 100 megabytes a second to nearly all Finns by the end of 2015, reports AFP. The first step is to secure broadband of at least one megabyte a second by July 2010. Finland’s Minister of Communications Suvi Linden said in a statement the Ministry would "assess the results of the trial auction and the impact it will have in future" in a report to Finland’s parliament next year.