Court: NL government may adjust frequency plan for rollout of 3.5GHz-5G

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate has been ruled right by the court regarding its changes to the National Frequency Plan, which should make 3.5GHz-5G possible. Several parties objected to this.

The court in Rotterdam shared his statement on Wednesday afternoon in the business. The judge declares the objections of telecom providers KPN, VodafoneZiggo and Odido unfounded or inadmissible. The court does the same with the objections of ‘local users’, such as Schiphol and the Port of Rotterdam Authority. This means that the ministry is right by the court.

The objections were related to the ministry’s plans to amend the National Frequency Plan 2014. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy wanted to adapt the 3.5GHz band to enable mobile communications, with a view to the rollout of faster 5G networks. EZK plans to partly free up the band from 3400 to 3800MHz for 5G, despite the fact that several local users are currently using it.

The ministry wants to keep the lower and upper 50MHz available for local users and make the remaining 300MHz available to telecom providers. Local users think this is not enough and are dissatisfied with the places at the top and bottom of the frequency band. The providers believe that local users are allocated too much frequency space in this plan. They would prefer that the entire 3.5GHz frequency spectrum be made available for 5G. Tweakers previously wrote a background story about this lawsuit.

The court concludes that the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy ‘pursues efficient use of frequency space’. The minister has ‘wide discretion and policy space’, which means that the court cannot itself determine whether and when there is such effective use. The court therefore tests the ministry’s plans on the basis of ‘general legal principles’. In its ruling, the court states that the parties have widely divergent interests and that the minister is therefore ‘impossible to satisfy all parties’. According to the court, the ministry carefully prepared its decision and obtained the necessary advice from experts. The ministry has also made understandable choices and provided sufficient reasons for its considerations, the judge ruled.

The ruling brings a 5G auction for the 3.5GHz band one step closer. This will eventually allow telecom providers to bid for frequency space within the 3.5 GHz band. It is not known when exactly the ministry will do this. The auction was initially scheduled for December 1. However, the National Digital Infrastructure Service, which was to take care of the auction, previously said that it will no longer take place in 2023. The parties may also appeal against the decision to the Trade Appeals Board within six weeks, it was confirmed. a spokesperson for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy told Tweakers.

The ministry also says in a telephone statement to Tweakers that it is satisfied with the result. Tweakers has also submitted questions to VodafoneZiggo, KPN, Odido, Schiphol and Port of Rotterdam, but has not yet received a response.