4G Auction To Make Just £3.5B in UK
For full implementation and sale of 4G spectrum frequencies in U.K. by January 2013 Chancellor George Osbourne has announced a price tag of sum of £3.5 billion.
Ofcom will finalize the auction by March 2013. The figure is far below from 3G spectrum sales with price tag of £22.5 billion as carriers had poor experience of raising enough revenue from 3G and 2G technologies.
Last month the Guardian quoted Brian Potterill, director in PwC’s telecoms strategy team, suggesting that the total raised for the U.K. government’s coffers from the 4G sale would amount to between £2bn and £4bn. Osbourne’s estimate sits within that bracket.
Although the U.K.’s 4G spectrum is still to go under the hammer, the first 4G network is already up and running. Carrier EE was able to refarm existing 2G spectrum holdings for 4G services after getting the go-ahead from telecoms regulator Ofcom — launching a 4G network at the end of October.
Rival U.K. carriers O2 and Vodafone will be among the bidders for the 4G spectrum frequencies next year.Source : techcrunch