Telecoms: Italy

The National Regulatory Authority published the rules for the WiMax licenses to be auctioned soon.

The spectrum available is a mere 150 MHz in the 3.2 – 3.6 GHz band. Spectrum will be auctioned in three blocks of 2×21 MHz each.
One of the block will not be available for any operator already owning an UMTS license.
The license will be split in macroregions (yet to be precisely defined, probably 8 to 10). Operators can bid for any macroregion they like.
The auction will be based only on monetary criteria, no beauty contest procedure is required. The base price for the auction for each macroregion will be set according the population living in the macroregion and its average GDP (Gross Domestic Product).
Each winner of the 15 year long licenses must guarantee a minimum coverage in the area within 30 months in order to keep its license.
The license can be used with any technology (basically, all WiMAX’s variants) but only to offer broadband access, backhauling through WiMAX will not be allowed.