Germany Allocates 4G Spectrum

The German spectrum auction has ended, raising about half the expected revenue. Observers think the credit crunch and huge overspending in the 3G auctions helped ratchet down amounts contestants were willing to spend.

A total of €4.38bn ($5.5bn) was spent on the new spectrum blocks, while analysts at KPMG had forecast income of €8bn for the government as a result of the sales.

As you might expect, the three largest mobile operators, O2, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile, each won two paired 5 MHz chunks of spectrum in the 800MHz band, prized because of its propagation characteristics, allowing greater coverage at lower cost, including better signal strength inside buildings.

German spectrum auction ends but prices low - Rethink Wireless: