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3G operators tremble after sky high U.K spectrum auction
Britain may no longer rule the sea, but the airwaves last month when it held Europe's first Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) auction. The sky-high prices that the auction secured for third-generation (3G) mobile spectrum created a wake that may entice other European countries to follow the United Kingdom's revenue-generating lead-a prospect that has left Europe's 3G hopefuls reeling.
Analysts had pegged the total price tag for five U.K. licenses at 55 billion (US$7.7 billion). A full-scale bidding war swamped those projections as leading telcos scrambled to grab a stake in one of Europe's largest and most profitable mobile markets. When the dust finally settled late last month, the auction raised almost five times the original projection as four British carriers and one Canadian operator offered 23.i billion (US$35.4 billion). The total amounts to about 392 (US$6oo) for every man, woman and child in the United Kingdom.
This mountain of cash may have done wonders for the British treasury, but it has prospective 3G players in other European countries nervous. They now...