A lack of competition hindered Sweden’s 4G auction, resulting in the country generating the least amount of the four sales completed globally to-date.
Swedish regulator PTS revealed the auction generated a total of 2.05 billion Swedish Kroner (€231 million) following 31 rounds of bidding over five days, however research firm Coleago Consulting says the amount gained per MHz/POP is 63% lower than the sum raised in Germany and 32% lower than Hong Kong.
The Swedish figure is 0.58 $/MHz/POP, compared to almost 1.8 in Hong Kong, 1.6 in the US, and 0.9 in Germany, figures from the firm show.
Coleago blames a lack of competition in Sweden for the result. It points out that Net4Mobility, one of the three winners, is a joint venture between Telenor and Tele2, which reduced the potential competitors by two. Bids by two new entrants – Com Hem and Netett Sverige - were likely rejected due to weak business cases relative to the incumbents, managing director Graham Friend told Telecoms Europe.net.
However, rules imposed by Swedish regulator PTS also impacted the sale, with bidders restricted to a maximum of two blocks of 10MHz.
TeliaSonera submitted the highest bid of 854 million Kronor, followed by Net4Mobility on 469 million and HI3G Access on 431 million.
PTS director general Göran Marby said it is now up to operators to choose which technology and service to use within the allotted bands that offers a cost effective rollout.”
The licenses run until 2035.