Spectrum is a funny thing. Who ever knew that you could put a price on air? To throw some figures out there regarding just how expensive empty space can be: the result of America’s auction for the 700 MHz band, which was nearly 2.5 years ago if you can believe that since it felt just like yesterday, saw Verizon take home the coveted C-Block that allows an operator to cover the contiguous United States for $4.74 billion. That was only 1 operator, on 1 chunk of spectrum. Compare that to the auction that happened in Finland late last year for the 2600 MHz band. That netted the government only $5 million across multiple operators. Of course a country of 5 million people isn’t going to ask as much for the right to blanket people with high speed data as a country of 330 million. Then there’s Germany, which has a population of 82 million, and they saw their 800/1800/2000/2600 MHz spectrum bands go for $5.7 billion. Sounds like a lot, until you read that analysts estimated the country could get over $10 billion.
So what about the UK? It’s a major market, one of the largest in Europe, yet operators were left sitting on their hands waiting for the government to free up some more spectrum … until today that is. The UK government has finally given the go ahead for regulators to hold an auction for the 800 MHz and 2600 MHz frequency bands, a decision they’ve been waiting for for nearly 3 years.
Europe’s 800 MHz is a lot like America’s 700 MHz. It too was once used for analog television and it’s attractive because it allows for easier deployment of networks, both in terms of cell tower erection and indoor penetration, due to longer wave lengths. UK regulators have also allowed the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz frequencies, which has been reserved exclusivly for the usage of GSM, to be “refarmed”. A fancy way of saying that operators will be allowed to launch 3G networks on those bands.
The auction is due to take place late next year and there have yet to be any estimates on how much the government stands to make. If you’re in the UK you should be excited that you may very well soon have coverage inside your favorite pub. And by soon I mean in 3 years. Minimum.
[Via: Mobile Business Briefing]