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Germany: Opens the bidding for mobile phone airwaves

 |  May 27, 2015

Germany started an auction of radio frequencies for mobile phone network operators, hoping to raise billions of euros to help improve a national broadband network that has fallen behind those of poorer countries such as Hungary, Portugal and Spain.

“The auction will point the way for the development of mobile services in Germany,” said regulator Jochen Homann at the start of the auction on Wednesday in the city of Mainz, near Frankfurt. “I expect a lively auction.”

Analysts expect the auction to raise only a maximum of 4 to 5 billion euros.

The new market dynamics make fierce competition unlikely between former state monopoly Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica Deutschland and Vodafone, said Antonios Drossos, co-founder of Finnish telecoms advisory firm Rewheel.

 

Full content: The Economic Times

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