Stage 1 in 1800 MHz-auction is now concluded – total bid sum SEK 1,349,999,999

Stage 1 in the auction of the refarming of the Swedish 1800MHz has been concluded today after 18 bidding rounds. In stage 1 2×35 MHz is assigned, divided into seven frequency blocks of 2×5 MHz each.

The winning bidders and the amount they have to pay are:

Net4Mobility HB has won 2 frequency blocks (2×10 MHz) for SEK 430,000,000.
TeliaSonera Mobile Networks AB] has won 5 frequency blocks (2×25 MHz) for SEK 919,999,999. Hi3G Access AB also participated but did not win any blocks in stage 1 of the auction.

Whereas PTS is set to be the guardian of competition in the Swedish telecom market, one may wonder if auction, where the deepest pockets is bound to win, is the optimum way to allocate spectrum?

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9 Responses to Stage 1 in 1800 MHz-auction is now concluded – total bid sum SEK 1,349,999,999

  1. Syed Fahad Yunas says:

    Is thre any other way to give away the spectrum as well??

    I am sure there is a logic behind your statement. Why do you think its not fair to auction a spectrum this way; this approach is used worldwide.

  2. Claesb says:

    TeliaSonera is to 49% owned by the Swedish and Finnish governments (if I remember correctly?). They have unlimited credibility and can allways lend money much cheaper than any other operator in the Swedish market. They will allways win any kind of auction and if no spectrum Caps are set it means that smaller players soon will have to leave the Swedish market and we will be back to monopoly. Hence, spectrum caps could perhaps be one way of limiting the dominance of the incumbant operator in a market and to maintain competition

  3. Anonymous says:

    Since the need for licensed, exclusive spectrum is tightly coupled to the amount of infrastructure you have already invested in (and the need to protect its business value) this is not very strange. And honestly, does it really matter what happens with a few frequency blocks here and there with all the spectrum in many bands? They main problem is that there are quite a few actors in wide-area infrastructure already. Maybe this finally will make someone (like 3) move into the offloading business, i.e. to create more capacity where its needed, rather than blasting away more power from outdoor towers

  4. Syed Fahad Yunas says:

    Thanks a lot Claesb. Have to say when reading some of the blogs posted on this website related to Mobile business / strategy it really gives a new insight and shows me a totally new and different perspective on the subject matter.

    P.S. (while not trying to be an advertiser :-) ) if some one is interested in Mobile business strategy topics, there is one another great blog similar to this one, Northstreaming (northstream.se/blog), the way the some of the guys write their blogs over there, its absolutely fantastic in terms of content and how they present their view. Please do check it out. I am sure you will like it as well.

    cheers

  5. Anonymous says:

    @syed –  Bengt Nordström is an old acquaintance around here. He has indeed been around for many years and has very good insight in the mobile business! Thanks for the tip.

  6. Syed Fahad Yunas says:

    No doubt jzander, Bengt Nordstrom articles are always informative. For instance, check out his July post on businessweek ‘How Europe Lost the Signal in Mobile’ in which he describes how the European mobile industry is losing its market share worldwide and how the it can regain its lost title of being an Innovator and market leader in both handsets and Infrastructure market.

    He keeps it plain and simple, yet Informative.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Well, I completely agree with Bengts viewpoint  in his Business Week article on the state of the terminal & software industry. I am also worried if Europe, although doing extremely well in the widearea mobile infratructure domain,  will keep it up in the “hotspot” /”offloading” domain.

    http://www.businessweek.com/europe/how-europe-lost-the-signal-in-mobile-07262011.html

    However on the spectrum issue,  I think Bengt is on a trip down memory lane. Sounds like “the good old GSM days” when administrations (= government monopolies) without competitors got together and wrote an MOU prescribing launch dates, data rates etc. (Un)fortunately, these days are gone.  LTE is “yet another technology” that will add to the patchwork of access options and improve data rates and mobile broadband coverage at lower cost.

  8. Syed Fahad Yunas says:

    I believe your standpoint is based on some of the Scandinavian countries (Finland, Sweden) where Government owns some shares of an operator. Now, I don’t know the details about the rest of the Western Europe (like in how many countries, the Government owns an operator or has some share) but, assuming, if there aren’t any Government monopolies in those countries, then I guess having an administration that coordinates the spectrum allocation, launch dates, data rates, pricing etc. will have a positive effect on the European Market like Bengt mentioned. Of course, it might not have good effects on end consumers of some countries like Finland and Sweden. But the overall European Infrastructure and handset market situation might improve. Don’t you think.

    (Just my view point)

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