Belgium auctions 5G licences for 1.2 billion euros

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Mobile operators in Belgium have bid 1.2 billion euros ($1.26 billion) for fifth-generation (5G) mobile licences, the telecoms regulator said on Tuesday.

Proceeds from the auction, which attracted bids from five operators, were 468.5 million euros higher than the minimum price, the regulator said.

The Belgian regulator cleared the five entrants to the auction in March, after the government said it would encourage a new entrant on the market to increase competition with the largest operators Proximus, Orange Belgium and Telenet’s BASE.

The two new entrants in the auction, CityMesh Mobile and Network Research Belgium, both obtained licences for frequencies that can be used for 5G applications.

($1 = 0.9507 euros)

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; editing by Jason Neely)