Germany’s ongoing spectrum auction had attracted bids totalling €1.95 billion by the end of round 32 on Friday, with Deutsche Telekom having committed to spending the most so far.
Interim results published by regulato ry body Bundesnetzagentur show that the incumbent is bidding for all four spectrum bands on offer – 700 MHz, 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz and unpaired 1.5 MHz – and has thus far tabled bids worth close to €761.9 million.
Vodafone is also bidding in all four bands and has pledged €656.9 million, while Telefonica, which is not taking part in the 1.5-GHz sale, has racked up bids worth €534.9 million.
The 900 MHz band is proving the most popular, with bids reaching €715.6 million.
The 700 MHz band, which is in use by terrestrial TV broadcasters but is being freed up for mobile broadband, has attracted bids worth €450.1 million.
The band is scheduled to be available for mobile broadband in some regions from April 2017 and in the rest of the country from mid-2018.
The winners of the 700-MHz licences will have an obligation to cover 98% of the population, according to the regulator’s rules.
There are six lots of 2×5 MHz up for grabs in the 700 MHz band. Each of the three telcos is the highest bidder in two of the six.
