The Belgian telecom authority (BIPT) approved 4G licences to 4 operators. Besides the three ’traditional’ companies Belgacom, Mobistar and KPN, newcomer BUCD was also selected.

The auction - which offered 4G licences for 15 years - made the federal government a 77.7 million euro revenue, slightly less than the foreseen 80 million euro.

BUCD is a newly created company, backed by Asian investors. The company paid 22.51 million euro for 45 MHz. Belgacom and Mobistar each bought 40 Mhz for which they paid 20.22 and 20.02 million euro. KPN bought 30 Mhz and paid 15.04 million euro for this.

The 4G network will allow mobile high speed data traffic, such as video streaming in real time, on electronic devices. Applications which relied on heavy (telecom) hardware in the past, will become available on smartphones, tablets and laptops in the near future.

As of July 1st, 2012 the technology becomes available in Belgium. Hopefully the entrance of a new competitor on the market will lead to a higher level of competition and lower prices. Only half a year to find out!

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