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Hmmm, that's an interesting problem I hadn't thought of with the auctions. People are going to pay for data pretty much regardless of what it costs (within reas
by jeffreyrogers 9y ago
Hmmm, that's an interesting problem I hadn't thought of with the auctions. People are going to pay for data pretty much regardless of what it costs (within reason), so it's economical to buy part of the spectrum assuming you can pass on the high price to consumers. Typically you think of competition benefiting consumers, but that's obviously not true in this case.
- kalleboo 9y agoFor the original UMTS 2100 auction in Sweden, instead of having an auction, the regulator gave away the spectrum for free to the bidder who could show a plan for the best coverage in the shortest rollout time in a "beauty contest". This left the operators with more money to build the actual networks in a sparse country with a low population. Of course everyone totally failed to achieve the plans they submitted, and one carrier that one dropped out completely (Orange) because they thought a buildout would still be too expensive. But Sweden still ended up with some of the best mobile networks (speed/coverage) in Europe at the time.
- kuschku 9y agoExactly, and that's how you end up with paying either 16€/mo for absolutely unlimited traffic, SMS and voice (plus 50GB tethering), as in Denmark, or 180€/mo for the cheapest contract with unlimited data, as in Germany.