Four to bid in EU's first LTE auction

Europe’s first LTE spectrum auction is tipped to raise a fraction of the amount garnered when 3G spectrum was sold off a decade ago.
 
The first 4G auction in the region is scheduled to take place in Germany today, but the regulator expects to raise €5-€10 billion, well short of the €50 billion carriers spent on 3G licenses a decade ago at the peak of the dotcom bubble, Associated Press reports.
 
Germany’s regulator expects fierce competition for the license, which covers Mainz, a city just west of Frankfurt, as LTE has been proven to work in numerous global trials, while 3G was largely unproven when it went on sale.
 
However, only T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus, and O2 Telefonica will be allowed to take part in the auction, local news site Deutsche Welle states, prompting a legal challenge from domestic carrier Airdata.