News
Deutsche Telekom leads the bidding in 2 GHz band while 1&1 Drillisch is ahead of the pack at 3.6 GHz
After a lull in proceedings earlier this week that led some to predict the end was in sight, bidding in the German 5G auction is once again happening apace, with close to €500 million being added to the running total between the close of play on Thursday and the end of round 140 on Friday afternoon.
The four participants had between them committed €3.68 billion as of the end of round 140, with the total split almost equally between the 2 GHz and 3.6 GHz bands, although there is significantly more spectrum on offer in the latter.
Deutsche Telekom is dominating bidding in the 2 GHz band, its total standing at in excess of €600 million, but bids on the 12 available 5 MHz paired blocks are changing rapidly; the frequency band garnered an additional €160 million over seven bidding rounds.
There has also been a recent growth spike in the 3.6 GHz band, where bids increased by close to €225 million over the same period. Here 1&1 Drillisch leads with bids of over €785 million.
Bidding was still going on at the time of writing on Friday and if the competition remains as robust as it has been over the past couple of days then analyst predictions of a windfall of up to €5 billion for government coffers seems easily attainable.
