When spectrum licences are about to expire, spectrum regulators must decide whether to renew these licences or to organise a new award.

Cullen International’s latest European Benchmark shows that ten of the 21 studied countries have a general policy of organising a new auction whenever spectrum licences expire. These countries also organised new auctions in the past ten years when licences expired (with some exceptions).

Four countries have a general policy of licence renewal. Several countries do not have a clear policy but decide on a case-by-case basis.

Some countries used mixed approaches: extending licences by a few years in a first step and organising a large new award procedure later.

Both in the case of renewal and in the case of a new award, it is common practice that regulators impose new licence conditions, primarily coverage obligations.

The benchmark shows which policies are applied by European spectrum regulators when licences are about to expire:

• Looking into the future, the benchmark shows which mobile licences will expire in the next three years and what is planned for the future of these spectrum bands.
• Looking into past, the benchmark analyses whether spectrum regulators extended or renewed licences or organised a new auction or beauty contest. It also shows the rationale for the regulators’ decisions.

Scope
Region: Europe
Countries covered: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom
Policy area: radio spectrum, spectrum policy
Last updated: October 2026

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