Sweden auctions spectrum for €225.7m

Sweden's biggest carriers paid €225.7m (SEK 2.1 billion) for fresh nationwide frequencies in a two-week spectrum sale that ended on Thursday.

TeliaSonera, Tele2, Telenor and each bought two blocks of 20MHz spectrum, paying €60.46 million, €58.9 million and €57.3 million respectively.

Mobile operator HI3G Access took home two 10MHz chunks of spectrum for €31.8 million, while chipmaker and Wimax pioneer Intel won the only TDD spectrum - 50 MHz - for €17.1 million.

The online auction was offering 190MHz in the 2.6GHz range, with 14 blocks of FDD spectrum and one of TDD. The 15 year licenses are technology and service neutral.