"Telecommunications operators may not have the 700 MHz frequency band available for the deployment of 5G services on the scheduled date." As recognized by the Government, which through the Ministry of Economic Affairs has warned that the Second Digital Dividend process has been postponed sine die , the change of frequencies that implied a retunement of television channels for use by companies telecommunications. For their part, they planned to use said radio strip to implement the new mobile telephony technology, 5G, upon payment for the corresponding spectrum space.

The postponement entails a delay in the technology of the sector and also in the expected income for the state coffers, through a bidding system that is suspended by the coronavirus.

The decision is due "to the exceptional situation derived from the Covid-19 pandemic" and has already been communicated to the European Commission. Spain, which had positioned itself to carry out this adaptation of communications in accordance with continental deadlines, now admits that delay is inevitable . Other countries such as Portugal, Austria and France have also been forced to take action in this regard.

The Second Digital Dividend consists of changing the frequency assigned to television channels, which must release the 700 MHz band to telecommunications operators. The transfer was to be completed before June 30, something that from Economic Affairs is already considered impossible. However, in view of the State of Alarm statement, the antennas had been warned not to remove the equipment that allowed television viewing without the need for retuning. Thus, viewers were given access to the two signals of each channel, the old and the new, which coexist in each geographical area, which in the sector is called simulcast .

Millionaire delay

This decision also implies a postponement of the 700 MHz auction, a bidding process that for the moment will not be held and by which the State will stop entering hundreds of millions of euros. In 2018, an S&P report put the total amount between 750 and 1,050 million euros, the amount to be captured.

For the sector , the measure may be a relief in the face of investment , a "deference" according to government sources consulted by EL MUNDO, from which it is explained that they prefer that telecos be concentrated on supporting the networks, in these moments of confinement and record data consumption of data traffic.

According to Moncloa, the postponement serves to " facilitate the additional effort being made by telecommunications operators, focused on maintaining the connectivity of companies and people in this time of health emergency."

"We consider the government's decision logical and correct, even more so when, due to the current situation, some of the actions necessary for the release of the 700 MHz band have had to be postponed," they told this newspaper from Orange.

However, a technological delay is looming, when the sector was channeled for the definitive implementation of 5G. In fact, Vodafone has already marketed unlimited rates, ideal for the new telecommunications standard, since the summer of last year.

Sources from the Ministry state that there is no other option but to postpone the execution until the second half of the year, unable to specify these deadlines at present. They recall in Economics that the European provision "already provided for the possibility that the deadline could be postponed for certain reasons such as force majeure", the Covid-19 in this case.

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