Sweden Finishes "4G" Spectrum Auction

Sweden's telecoms regulator, the PTS has announced that its spectrum auction in the 2.6 GHz band has been concluded, after 16 days of bidding and 112 bidding rounds. Five bidders have won licenses for the total amount of SEK2,099,450,000 (US$348 million).

Also, winning bidders are to pay an administrative charge to PTS of SEK 25,000 per MHz. The term of the licenses is 15 years, and there are no rollout or coverage requirements.

The licenses in the 2.6 GHz band are both technology and service neutral - although both Telenor and TeliaSonera have called this a 4G spectrum auction and promise to launch high speed mobile internet services.

Dr Marianne Treschow, Director General of PTS commented "The use of mobile broadband services has increased dramatically during the last few years. By making the frequencies in the 2.6 GHz band available to market players, PTS provides opportunities for end-users to gain access to high capacity mobile communications services. The licenses are technology and service neutral, thus opening up for both further development of current wireless broadband networks and new networks with new technologies."

"The auction proceeds of SEK 2.1 billions proves that the frequencies are attractive and that radio spectrum has great value on today’s market."

Five bidders have participated in the auction. They have won licenses as follows:

Bidder	Bandwidth MHz	Auction proceeds
HI3G Access	2x10 MHz FDD	US$49.2 million
Intel Capital Corp.	50 MHz TDD	US$26.4 million
Tele2 Sverige	2x20 MHz FDD	US$90.9 million
Telenor Sverige	2x20 MHz FDD	US$88.4 million
TeliaSonera Mobile Networks	2x20 MHz FDD	US$93.2 million

Posted to the site on 8th May 2008

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