(Adds more detail)
AMSTERDAM, July 21 (Reuters) - The Dutch government said on
Tuesday it had raised 1.23 billion euros ($1.41 billion) from
its first auction for bandwidth for 5G telecommunications.
The three companies with mobile networks in the Netherlands,
KPN, VodafoneZiggo and T-Mobile, all received
bandwidth at the auction, the country's junior economic affairs
minister Mona Keijzer said at a news conference in The Hague.
In separate statements, KPN, the former national telecoms
operator in the Netherlands, said it had paid 416 million euros
in the auction, VodafoneZiggo said it had paid almost 416
million euros and smaller rival T-Mobile said it had paid 400
million euros.
The rollout of 5G in the Netherlands has proceeded more
slowly than in some neighbouring European countries. The
licences awarded on Tuesday were in the 700, 1400 and 2100MHz
ranges, at the lower end of the frequencies associated with 5G.
The Dutch government plans a further auction in 2022 after
it relocates ground satellite systems in the 5G range currently
used by the country's intelligence agencies.
($1 = 0.8701 euros)
(Reporting by Toby Sterling; Editing by Mark Potter and Jane
Merriman)