Spain-based Masmovil won three blocks of spectrum in Portugal’s latest frequency auction, allowing it to enter the market through the launch of 4G services in three locations, Expansion reported.

The newspaper reported Masmovil would launch the services through its Portuguese subsidiary Nowo, with plans to build a 4G network covering Lisbon, Porto and the Algarve.

Nowo will enter the market as Portugal’s fourth national operator, competing with Altice Europe’s Meo, Vodafone Portugal and NOS.

Masmovil paid approximately €54.3 million for the three blocks in the 1800MHz band.

The first phase of the auction was completed this week, with spectrum in the 900MHz band also covered.

The build-up to the auction was not without controversy.

In October 2020, Vodafone Group accused regulator Anacom of imposing illegal conditions to the sale, bemoaning proposals to reserve an allocation for new entrants and offer challengers a 25 per cent discount on the price.

GSMA Intelligence data for Q4 2020 placed Meo as the market leader with 6.4 million mobile connections, ahead of NOS (4.8 million) and Vodafone (4.6 million).