FNA receives six requests for spectrum auction in Germany
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Six requests have been received by Federal Network Agency (FNA) to take part in the country’s digital frequency auction scheduled for early in the second quarter of 2010. The applications will now be examined by FNA after which it will decide whether the companies are qualified to take part or not.
German telecoms giant Deutsche Telekom (DT), UK-based Vodafone, Spain’s Telefonica O2 Germany and E-Plus, the local unit of Netherlands-based group KPN, are all expected to be among those asking to be admitted as bidders.
It is one of the largest spectrum auctions in Germany since the allocation of UMTS concessions in 2000 and involves licenses for spectrum freed up in the switchover from analogue to digital television. The spectrum package includes 360MHz, 1.7GHz, 1.8GHz, 2GHz and 2.6GHz besides 60MHz in the digital dividend range of 800MHz.
Foreign operators barred from bidding in CDMA 3G spectrum auction (India)
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The upcoming auction of 3G spectrum will be limited to UMTS spectrum only as per Ministry of Communications and Information Technology decision. The move is aimed at keeping the international companies away from the bidding auction. The decision can also block new foreign players from launching both 2G and 3G CDMA-based services.
However, scarcity of airwaves for that technological platform has been cited as one of the reason by the ministry for not allowing foreign operators to bid for 3G CDMA spectrum.
According to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), only existing licensees offering CDMA services will be eligible to bid this spectrum is being provided as 3G growth path for CDMA operators.
Canada govt allows Wind telecom to start operations; overturns regulator’s decision
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Communications regulator CRTC’s decision has been overturned by the Canadian Government which has allowed Ezyptian based mobile newcomer Globalive Wireless Management, backed by Orascom
telecom, to launch its services in Canada.
Globalive, which operates under the name Wind Mobile, acquired spectrum rights for CDN 442 million in August 2008. At present, the company has built most of its network and would launch service in Toronto and Calgary this month.
CRTC announced in October that the company was operating against telecom law requiring a minimum level of Canadian ownership. Orascom owns slightly more than 65 percent of the equity in Globalive and nearly all of its debt, which the regulator felt gave the foreign investors too much control over the company’s daily operations.
While overturning the CRTC’s decision, Industry Canada, the government ministry said that 80 percent of Globalive’s voting shares are held by Canadians. Besides, the company is based in Toronto and should be considered Canadian and allowed to start services in order to stimulate competition on the mobile market.
The decision has been welcomed by Wind but rival mobile operator Telus which said that this will give an “unique advantage†to Wind, after other companies were told they could not bid with foreign investors in the spectrum auction.
T-Mobile Keeps Wireless Auction Lead
After more than three weeks of bidding, Deutsche Telekom‘s T-Mobile, the fourth-largest U.S. cellular carrier, continues to have placed the biggest bet at the Federal Communications Commission’s wireless spectrum auction. T-Mobile has pledged $4.2 billion so far, while total bids from all parties have reached $13.7 billion. Initial estimates suggested the federal government may eventually bring in $15 billion for its airwave auction.
Both established wireless carriers–such as the nation’s largest, Cingular Wireless–and other bidders–like SpectrumCo, a coalition of the largest U.S. cable TV providers and Sprint Nextel (nyse: S – news – people )–are trying to buy 1,122 airspace licenses that would allow them to add new voice and data services or increase existing coverage areas. Faster data networks are favored by both e-mail-addicted businessmen and ringtone-crazy high school students. Still, data service only accounts for about 10% of today’s wireless bills.
No surprises here yet: Established carriers represent much of the leaderboard. Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ – news – people ) and Vodafone (nyse: VOD – news – people ), is second with $2.8 billion in bids. SpectrumCo, representing Comcast (nasdaq: CMCSA – news – people ), Time Warner‘s (nyse: TWX – news – people ) cable division, Cox Communications, Bright House and Sprint, is third, bidding $2.3 billion. Dallas-based regional carrier MetroPCS has $1.4 billion on the line for licenses covering the Northeast, Midwest and some Western states. And Cingular, owned by the merging AT&T (nyse: T – news – people ) and BellSouth (nyse: BLS – news – people ), rounds out the top five bidders with a $1.3 billion stake.
The FCC sped up the auction process this week, increasing the daily number of bidding rounds to six 30-minute sessions per day, up from four hour-long sessions. Most of the largest chunks of spectrum haven’t seen new bids in weeks. Verizon Wireless’ $1.3 billion bid for a slice of spectrum in the Northeast is the single largest bid. The second-largest single bid is a $894 million commitment from T-Mobile for a swath of airspace over the Western U.S.
In a note issued Thursday, Citigroup analyst Michael Rollins wrote that recent bidding activity could lead to increasing competition in urban markets, thank to carriers such as Leap Wireless and MetroPCS bidding on licenses that include several larger cities. Rollins also says greater spectrum buys from big, national carriers could also be a sign of more aggressive data network installations in urban markets. “Verizon is also actively bidding on urban spectrum, and is looking to build a larger spectrum position than we had previously anticipated,” he adds.
On Aug. 8, Sprint, already rich with spectrum after its merger with Nextel, announced plans for a nationwide “fourth-generation” data network, while most carriers (including Sprint and Verizon) are still putting finishing touches on third-gen networks (see: ” Sprint Boss Goes Next-Gen”).
While the current auction could still last a few more weeks, with bidding mostly on smaller, cheaper licenses, unsuccessful bidders need not fret: Another FCC auction, with 64 more wireless spectrum licenses, is scheduled to start Feb. 7, 2007. Winning bidders could use the spectrum for a range of services including wireless Internet or mobile voice and paging services.
Source- http://www.forbes.com
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