ComReg sold 5G spectrum as regional blocks that still fit together

Ireland's 3.6GHz band was useful for fixed wireless broadband and emerging 5G, but demand was not uniform. A national-only licence would have forced rural and urban needs into the same bid, while tiny independent licences could have left operators with scattered fragments.

ComReg's answer was a regional package: 350 MHz of spectrum offered as 594 lots spread over nine regions. Four regions were rural, five were urban, and the final assignment was made on a contiguous basis.

The May 2017 award assigned all 350 MHz to five winning bidders. RTE reported that Vodafone got 85 MHz in rural regions and 105 MHz in cities, Three secured 100 MHz nationally, Meteor got 80 MHz rural and 85 MHz city, and Imagine and Airspan also won blocks.

The auction raised more than EUR78 million, including EUR60.5 million upfront and about EUR17.7 million in spectrum usage fees over 15-year licences expiring in 2032. The design bought both price discovery and deployable spectrum.

Localize demand, then restore contiguity

Regional lots let bidders value city and rural coverage differently.

Contiguous assignment protected winners from inefficient chopped-up spectrum.

A brownfield transition process acknowledged existing fixed-wireless users instead of pretending the band was empty.

The 15-year term gave operators enough time to justify network investment.

A spectrum auction can price local demand without leaving winners with unusable fragments if the assignment stage rebuilds clean blocks.

The 3.6GHz licences became part of Ireland's 5G buildout. ComReg later managed transition work from existing users, and its transition records show staged commencements of licensed lots as incumbents vacated spectrum.