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When European regulators auctioned off spectrum for UMTS use they got bids so high that the operators became capital constrained with respect to actually buildi

When European regulators auctioned off spectrum for UMTS use they got bids so high that the operators became capital constrained with respect to actually building the network.

jake_morrison 7y ago
I was working at British Telecom when they bought their 3G licenses for the UK. The stock dropped by 50%, making my options worthless. Not that I am salty. I wonder if it is optimum for society to price the spectrum so high that it is barely possible to build on it, then transfer the costs to the consumer. Basically it's a tax on technology. Or if it's not so high, then it's a windfall to the carriers.
ahartmetz 7y ago
Some say that the high prices paid at frequency auctions are partially responsible for the high prices, shitty coverage, and mediocre bandwidth of mobile networks in Germany. Most of Europe is much better.
- iforgotpassword 7y ago
  Yep and it's gonna be the same thing all over again with 5G.
  - glenneroo 7y ago
    At least you can rejoice that Austria was selected as the testing grounds for 5G before Germany. I was at the event where T-Mobile renamed themselves to Magenta and the CEO of Magenta "interviewed" the right-wing chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz as they laughed and announced Austria will roll 5G out before poor Germany. The audience didn't seem all that enthusiastic with the announcement, then again in Austria getting crowds really excited at business events is quite the challenge... A friend of mine also has a map of 5G hotspots in Switzerland, and there are already quite a lot, e.g. in Geneva, for such a small city and they have at least multiple tens already installed.
- magduf 7y ago
  >Some say that the high prices paid at frequency auctions are partially responsible for the high prices, shitty coverage, and mediocre bandwidth of mobile networks in Germany. I was just visiting Germany less than a year ago, and got a SIM card and a month of service there for EUR15. My coverage was just fine in cities and some smaller towns, and the data rate seemed just fine; I even used it for a VoIP conversation. Your prices are much, much cheaper than here in the US. They're also significantly cheaper than Japan. From what I've read, your prices seem to be cheaper than, or on par with, most westernized countries. The only places that seem to be cheaper are eastern European places like Romania. Seriously, I wish I could get good service as cheap as I found it in Germany; I'd be paying less than half of my current phone bill (and I already pay much less than most people I know, because they all insist on expensive full-service plans).
  - ahartmetz 7y ago
    You should check out Sweden or Austria regarding prices and what you get for them! Coverage on Autobahns and train lines is pretty bad. In some villages it's also bad.
    - magduf 7y ago
      Are you saying Sweden and Austria are even cheaper? If so, that's great and all, but honestly, from an American perspective, EUR15 per month for 3GB of data is a very, very good deal. That's so cheap that I'm not sure I'd care much if another place was even cheaper. I didn't notice any coverage problems while I was there, but admittedly I was only there 2 weeks, but I did take the trains a lot (but only in Bavaria). I never noticed any problems. I was using O2. I don't think the coverage was perfect all the time, but it's not perfect here in the US either, and I use Verizon which is generally accepted to have the best overall coverage nationwide. In short, I think Germany has things pretty good from a global perspective, as far as cellphones go. Some other European places may be even better, but I just don't see much to complain about over there, when compared to any place outside of Europe.
      - ahartmetz 7y ago

When European regulators auctioned off spectrum for UMTS use they got bids so high that the operators became capital constrained with respect to actually building the network.

jake_morrison 7y ago

I was working at British Telecom when they bought their 3G licenses for the UK. The stock dropped by 50%, making my options worthless. Not that I am salty. I wonder if it is optimum for society to price the spectrum so high that it is barely possible to build on it, then transfer the costs to the consumer. Basically it's a tax on technology. Or if it's not so high, then it's a windfall to the carriers.

ahartmetz 7y ago

Some say that the high prices paid at frequency auctions are partially responsible for the high prices, shitty coverage, and mediocre bandwidth of mobile networks in Germany. Most of Europe is much better.

iforgotpassword 7y ago
Yep and it's gonna be the same thing all over again with 5G.
- glenneroo 7y ago
  At least you can rejoice that Austria was selected as the testing grounds for 5G before Germany. I was at the event where T-Mobile renamed themselves to Magenta and the CEO of Magenta "interviewed" the right-wing chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz as they laughed and announced Austria will roll 5G out before poor Germany. The audience didn't seem all that enthusiastic with the announcement, then again in Austria getting crowds really excited at business events is quite the challenge... A friend of mine also has a map of 5G hotspots in Switzerland, and there are already quite a lot, e.g. in Geneva, for such a small city and they have at least multiple tens already installed.
magduf 7y ago
>Some say that the high prices paid at frequency auctions are partially responsible for the high prices, shitty coverage, and mediocre bandwidth of mobile networks in Germany. I was just visiting Germany less than a year ago, and got a SIM card and a month of service there for EUR15. My coverage was just fine in cities and some smaller towns, and the data rate seemed just fine; I even used it for a VoIP conversation. Your prices are much, much cheaper than here in the US. They're also significantly cheaper than Japan. From what I've read, your prices seem to be cheaper than, or on par with, most westernized countries. The only places that seem to be cheaper are eastern European places like Romania. Seriously, I wish I could get good service as cheap as I found it in Germany; I'd be paying less than half of my current phone bill (and I already pay much less than most people I know, because they all insist on expensive full-service plans).
- ahartmetz 7y ago
  You should check out Sweden or Austria regarding prices and what you get for them! Coverage on Autobahns and train lines is pretty bad. In some villages it's also bad.
  - magduf 7y ago
    Are you saying Sweden and Austria are even cheaper? If so, that's great and all, but honestly, from an American perspective, EUR15 per month for 3GB of data is a very, very good deal. That's so cheap that I'm not sure I'd care much if another place was even cheaper. I didn't notice any coverage problems while I was there, but admittedly I was only there 2 weeks, but I did take the trains a lot (but only in Bavaria). I never noticed any problems. I was using O2. I don't think the coverage was perfect all the time, but it's not perfect here in the US either, and I use Verizon which is generally accepted to have the best overall coverage nationwide. In short, I think Germany has things pretty good from a global perspective, as far as cellphones go. Some other European places may be even better, but I just don't see much to complain about over there, when compared to any place outside of Europe.
    - ahartmetz 7y ago