Although you can use the internet almost everywhere in the Netherlands via 5G, the fifth generation of mobile networks, the arrival of the fast variant is again being delayed. This concerns the 3.5 GHz frequency band. This offers more bandwidth, necessary to manage traffic, the logistics sector and industry more intelligently, for example. It already works in most EU countries, but not in the Netherlands.
Also read: What stands in the way of fast 5G?
The auction of the valuable 3.5 GHz frequencies was originally scheduled to take place at the end of 2021. That was canceled because the Inmarsat satellite service in Friesland receives emergency signals from ships at sea via that frequency. A Ministry of Defense listening station also got in the way, but that issue has been resolved.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate (EZK) revised it frequency plan but this was met with protests from the Rotterdam port authority and Schiphol, from the national providers and Inmarsat.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the Rotterdam court will consider the objections to the frequency plan. The ruling will take at least six weeks. If the objectors are right, EZK will have to fine-tune the frequency distribution again. If an appeal is lodged, the auction will take even longer.
Last week, outgoing minister Micky Adriaansens (EZK, VVD) gave answer to parliamentary questions about the delayed auction and the position of Inmarsat. She wants to wait for the judge’s outcome before the 3.5 GHz auction can start. This will be in the first quarter of 2024 at the earliest and if all goes well, the way to faster mobile internet will finally be cleared before the end of 2024.
Inmarsat must move its emergency service in Friesland from EZK. Inmarsat needs two locations to receive distress signals from ship traffic in the Indian and Atlantic oceans. There is already one ground station in Italy. A second one, to replace the location in Burum, Frisian, is almost ready for use in Greece.
Inmarsat wants the guarantee that it can operate in Greece for at least ten years. The Greek government guarantees that Inmarsat can operate there unhindered for the next five years. The Greeks also want to issue a permit for the subsequent five-year period, but they can only do so at a later stage. Greece first wants to make sure that it will not be forced by the EU to make ‘platooning’ mandatory on a nearby highway: trucks that automatically drive close behind each other, held together by a fast 5G connection. The Greeks call the chance that this will continue ‘theoretical’.
Adriaansens believes that Inmarsat’s demands are disproportionate. She has a deadline: according to European agreements, the 3.5 GHZ network in the Netherlands should have already been working. “We can make one from Brussels infringement procedure get caught and fined for it.” The Netherlands may score high when it comes to digital facilities, but with mobile internet it is the “slowest boy in the class”, according to Adriaansens.
A version of this article also appeared in the October 7, 2023 newspaper.