COPENHAGEN (WiMAX Day). The Danish Ministeriet for Videnskab, Teknologi og Udvikling intends to auction spectrum in the 3410-4200 MHz band at the end of 2006 or early 2007. Given overwhelming demand for new spectrum, and the Ministries concern that any such auction provide an equitable distribution of spectrum to winning bidders, it has posted a tender bid for the construction of new auction bidding and selection processes, not dissimilar to the fully on-line auction that was established by the FCC in America for the AWS auction.

The auction of new 3.5 GHz spectrum in Denmark is expected to spur greater competition amongst local WiMAX operators. The last spectrum auction in Denmark was in 2004, and the Ministry shortly thereafter decided that the amount of spectrum licensed was too little to make the market truly competitive.

In 2004, the largest recipient of 3.5 GHz licenses was Clearwire. In May 2004 a company named Flux Europe Sarl won a 3.5 GHz license for Copenhagen, at a cost of US$267,205. In November 2004 Flux asked the Ministry to transfer the licence to a new wholly-owned Danish subsidiary called Clearwire Denmark ApS. Shortly thereafter, Clearwire also acquired a local broadband operator named Danske Telecom A/S for a reported US$16.7 million.

Since then, Danske Telecom has become the leading provider of fixed wireless in Denmark, with 3,000 subscribers reported in January 2006 and an expected 10,00 by the end of 2006. However, Danske Telecom use 26 GHz frequencies in areas of Denmark where they do not have 3.5 GHz. Not far behind Danske Telecom are the operators Orza and Butler Networks. Both of these companies use only 3.5 GHz licenses and 802.16-2004 compliant equipment. Orza has roughly 1,500 subscribers, and Butler 1,000.

It is expected that the next 3.5 GHz auction will see intense bidding amongst the three incumbent operators who each require more spectrum to get national coverage, as well as operators such as NextGenTel from Norway who, along with its principal shareholder TeliaSonera, are eager to dominate the Nordic WiMAX market.