Germany’s 4G spectrum auction provided little cheer for other countries looking to make a quick buck from the sale of next generation licenses, raising €4.38 billion compared to the €6-8 billion analysts predicted.
Bidding closed yesterday, with Vodafone Germany submitting the highest bid of €1.42 billion, followed by Telefonica O2 (€1.38 billion), Deutsche Telekom (€1.3 billion), and E-Plus (€283.6 million), according to the country’s regulator.
The amount raised fell short of KPMG’s estimate of €6-8 billion according to WSJ.com.
It also failed to live up to the €8.1 billion Moody’s Investors Services predicted, or Commerzbank’s €7.5 billion forecast reported by BusinessWeek when the auction opened in April.
The leading trio spent a combined €3.55 billion securing slots in the sought-after 800MHz band.
However E-Plus didn’t bid on the frequency claiming the price was too high, Reuters reports.
The carrier pulled an initial €8.6 billion bid for two 800MHz slots last month.
Around €50 billion was raised in the auction of 3G licenses in the country a decade ago.