The auctions started on 13 July and lasted 38 rounds, according to the Luxembourg Regulatory Institute (ILR), the country’s utility regulator.

Altogether 390Mhz was put under the gavel, with a collective reserve price of €26.7m.

Four out of the five companies that participated in the process secured licenses, pledging a total of €41.3m.

The winning bids came from Orange (which netted 130MHz of 5G frequencies), Post (also 130MHz), Proximus (120MHz) and Luxembourg Online (10MHz), the Department of Media, Telecommunications and Digital Policy (SMC) said on 22 July.

Eltrona participated in the auction, but did not secure spectrum rights.

The licenses will run for 15 years, and can be extended.  

The vast majority of the funds will be paid into the public treasury. The ILR will keep an administrative fee for running the auction.

5G services can theoretically be up 1,000 times faster than today’s 4G networks and will be required for widespread use of driverless cars and the internet of things.