1 The Cost of Rent-Seeking: Evidence from Cellular Telephone License Lotteries, 1993, Thomas W. Hazlett and Robert J. Michaels
2 The Political Spectrum, 2017, Thomas W. Hazlett
3 Ronald H. Coase, "The Federal Communications Commission," Journal of Law and Economics, Vol 2 (Oct. 1959).
4 How disruptive is 5G? Martin Cave, Telecommunications Policy Volume 42, Issue 8, September 2018, Pages 653-658.
5 P Koutroumpis and M Cave, ‘Auction design and auction revenues,’ Journal of Regulatory Economics, June 2018, Volume 53, Issue 3, pp 275–297 See: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11149-018-9358-x
6 M Cave and R Nicholls, ‘The use of spectrum auctions to attain multiple objectives: policy implications,’ Telecommunications Policy, 2017
7 Italy’s recent 3.6-3.8 GHz provides an example where asymmetric lots [2 x 80 MHz and 2 x 20 MHz] drove record prices of €0.35 MHz/pop, some 7 times higher than the Spanish auction, held a few months earlier, for the same amount of spectrum in a comparable band.
8 "Network rollout in Germany has suffered a significant setback...operators now lack the money to expand their networks,” Dirk Wössner, DT Board member. It's a “disaster for Germany,” Hannes Ametsreiter, CEO Vodafone. With the available supply cut by 25% and a new entrant enticed into the bidding process on favourable terms, the auction went on for 497 rounds. The final round had the same allocation of spectrum blocks as round 191 but with highly inflated prices.
9 www.ft.com/content/f8ad7698-b397-11e9-8cb2-799a3a8cf37b
10 docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-359335A1.pdf
11 See: Article 54 of the European Electronic Communications Code
12 Europe's opportunity to lead on 5G deployment is dwindling
13 api.ctia.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Recon-Analytics_How-Americas-4G-Leadership-Propelled-US-Economy_2018.pdf
14 www.newsy-today.com/5g-government-says-it-wants-to-avoid-crazy-auctions/
15 C Cambini and N Garelli, ‘Spectrum fees and market performance,’ Telecommunications Policy, (41) 2017, 355-366.
16 See: northstream.se/insights/white-papers/5g-outlook-in-europe/
17 Ibid
18 Roles and Effects of Access Regulation in 5G Markets, 2018, Johannes M. Bauer and Erik Bohlin
19 See: https://www.gsma.com/spectrum/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Impact-of-spectrum-prices-on-consumers.pdf
20 Cerre 5G Report
21 Two 5G variants can be identified: a limited version, in which 5G is a faster and more efficient version of 4G, specialising in enhanced mobile broadband, and an expansive version in which very fast and low latency communications capacity is going to be available everywhere, and employed in ‘verticals’ not yet much penetrated by connectivity, such as connected cars, advanced manufacturing and e-health. See W Lemstra, ‘Towards the successful deployment of 5G in Europe: What are the necessary policy and regulatory conditions?’ Telecommunications Policy 2018
22 Thus the obligations attached to the 700 MHz 5G assignment in Italy call for operators to cover 99.4% of the population (4.5 years after the spectrum is released) and to cover the principal national roads and railways (3.5 years after spectrum is released) through reciprocal roaming agreements. The planned German auction calls for 98% population coverage with 100 Mbps, the same speed along all federal highways and important roads with 10 millisecond latency by end 2022.
23 The Austrian regulator is proposing
24 Thus each operator will deploy 5,000 new 4G sites across the country (with some shared sites), using its own funds. There will also be 1,000 new sites for fixed 4G. 4G coverage will be ubiquitous by 2022.