Auction of WiMax spectrum in Sweden final

There is a lot of talk about the auction of frequencies in the US. And also other countries, like Sweden. WiMax was auctioned out for four (4) licenses per city (290 of them). A total of 1160 licenses. You can see the result in this PDF.

Frequencies that where auctioned out where:

• FDD1 3600-3620 / 3700-3720 MHz

• FDD2 3620-3640 / 3720-3740 MHz

• TDD1 3660-3680 / 3680-3700 MHz

• TDD2 3760-3780 / 3780-3800 MHz

The total amount of money paid for the licenses that where handed out was 4434000 SEK (approximately €443400). Only one actor requested licences in all cities, B2 Bredband AB, and only in one city (Vilhelmina) all four licenses where allocated to someone.

Updated: IDG talk about the auction (in swedish) here.

My guess has all the time been that WiMax is excellent if it is a complement to the 3G networks, but there are problems using it as a competing technology - specifically in Sweden where 3G penetration is already very high. I think PTS and the government seriously has failed in their planning of radio licenses in Sweden. They have all the time said their goal is that coverage is important, but they have not understood the market economy factors.

And in parallell they build Tetra/Rakel for themselves.