Wanna buy a mobile network licence, eh, eh?
Posted by CJD on November 13, 2012
Ofcom published the rules for the 4G licence auction this week. if you want a licence all you need is a minimum of £1bn. But it’s likely you’ll need more.
The auction of 3G back in 2000 raised an enormous £22bn. I had a minor role in that, modelling some of the numbers for the bid. After months of work we had the bidding strategy all worked out very rationally and after the first round of bidding it was thrown out of the window and we moved swiftly into irrational territory. None of the big players could afford to be out of the game so there was panic.
That was at the height of the dot com boom of course and people where paying silly amounts of money for even sillier ideas; 3G seemed to be the future so everyone bet their shirts on it – and everyone lost except Her Majesty’s Treasury.
It won’t be as frenzied this time, the experts are predicting £3-4bn – but the experts were wrong last time too……
You need to get your applications in by December 11th.
Here’s Ofcom’s guide to 4G for the rest of us consumers.
