Norway has raised around NKr1.79bn (US$291m) from its latest sale of 4G spectrum, the country’s telecoms regulator said today.
Local mobile operators TeliaSonera and Telenor, together with an entity owned by market entrant Access Industries, each won…
Norway has raised around NKr1.79bn (US$291m) from its latest sale of 4G spectrum, the country’s telecoms regulator said today.
Local mobile operators TeliaSonera and Telenor, together with an entity owned by market entrant Access Industries, each won blocks of frequencies in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz bands.
Access Industries, which bought Norwegian telco Ice.net in 2009 and is also present in Sweden and Denmark, paid the most in the auction by spending NKr705m (US$114.84m) for 2×10 MHz in the 800 MHz band, 2×5.1 MHz in the 900 MHz band, and 2×20 MHz in the 1800 MHz band.
The next biggest spender was Stockholm-based TeliaSonera, which paid NKr626.7m (US$102.24m) for 2×10 MHz in the 800 MHz band, 2×5 MHz in the 900 MHz band and 2×10 MHz in the 1800 MHz band.
Norway’s incumbent operator Telenor spent NKr453m (US$73.77m) for 2×10 MHz in the 800 MHz band, 2×5 MHz in the 900 MHz band, and 2×10 MHz in the 1800 MHz band.
Tele2, the country’s telecoms challenger, failed to pick up a single block of spectrum. The telco, which already holds 900 MHz and 2,100 MHz spectrum but unlike its larger competitors has yet to launch 4G, said it would be bidding in the upcoming sale of 1800 MHz frequencies that were left unsold in the latest auction.
It added that it will continue to look at joint ventures and other forms of partnerships to grow in Norway.
According to Coleago Consulting managing director Graham Friend, NPT’s auction format was partly to blame for Tele2’s spectrum upset.
“In a first price sealed bid, auction bidders effectively write a number down in an envelope and the highest bidders win and pay the amount they each bid,” said Friend.
“In such an auction it makes sense to bid less than the value you place on the spectrum or, as game theorists like to say, “shade your bid.” The challenge, however, is to determine how much to shade your bid. Shade aggressively and if you are successful in the auction you create significant value. The risk, however, is that you shade too aggressively and someone with a lower valuation, but who shaded less aggressively, wins the spectrum.”
