Tuesday 6 February 2018 | 11:59 CET | News
Ice Group subsidiary Netett Sverige (Net1) said it plans to expand its M2M services after winning the frequency auction for the national licence of 2 x 5 MHz in the 450 MHz band (452.5 to 457.5 MHz and 462.5 to 467.5 MHz). Sector regulator PTS said there were two approved bids, from Net1 and Telia Company. Net1 had offered SEK 91.30 million and Telia offered SEK 40.17 million.
Their sealed bids were opened on 06 February and though Net1’s bid was higher, it will pay auction proceeds of SEK 40.17 million, in a system where the winner pays the next-highest bid. The term of the licence is from 05 March 2020 up to and including 31 December 2044.
Ice Group CEO JD Fouchard said this provides the foundation to continue developing Net1’s mobile broadband service in Sweden. Net1 Sweden managing director Linus Jonsson said the operation can now continue its expansion in the machine-to-machine (M2M) market and more investment in IoT.
The licence conditions require coverage of 80 percent of the area in each Swedish county with mobile broadband services offering a downlink bitrate of 5 Mbps and an uplink bitrate of 128 kbps, both of which Net1 already fulfils.