The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#1

Post by spiritus_ » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 7:43 AM UTC

The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]
nuff.ox.ac.uk

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#2

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 8:32 AM UTC

[deleted]

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#3

Post by dx034 » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 9:09 AM UTC

Very misleading title, especially for a scientific paper. While it was the biggest auction up to that date, a similar auction in Germany just a few months later had a significantly higher revenue, nearly twice as much as the British auction. [0] The paper was published in 2002, so the title was already incorrect when it was published.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum_auction#Germany

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#4

Post by anexprogrammer » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 9:16 AM UTC

Of course immediately after the "successful" auction telecoms couldn't afford to do anything with the acquired licence and telecoms went into recession.

3G rollout and services took a ridiculous time to arrive.

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#5

Post by ejz » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 9:34 AM UTC

ahem http://www.reuters.com/article/us-fcc-auction-idUSKCN0ZV2C3

With respects paid to Paul Milgrom who designed this auction!

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#6

Post by k__ » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 9:52 AM UTC

anexprogrammer wrote: post #4

Of course immediately after the "successful" auction telecoms couldn't afford to do anything with the acquired licence and telecoms went into recession. 3G rollout and services took a ridiculous time to arrive.

Same in Germany.

The market for mobile Internet access here still suffers from this...

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#7

Post by jvvw » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 10:07 AM UTC

I remember that the designer of the auction did various mock auctions beforehand getting maths PhD students to do the bidding pretending to be the various mobile companies. I was a postdoc at the time and didn't take part myself but some of my friends did.

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#8

Post by Accacin » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 10:54 AM UTC

k__ wrote: post #6

anexprogrammer wrote: post #4

Of course immediately after the "successful" auction telecoms couldn't afford to do anything with the acquired licence and telecoms went into recession. 3G rollout and services took a ridiculous time to arrive.

Same in Germany. The market for mobile Internet access here still suffers from this...

Intestingly (I think) the UK was very slow in adopting 3G, but 4G has come a lot more quickly and I believe we're one of the countries with the higher average 4G speeds now.

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#9

Post by neals » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 11:10 AM UTC

dx034 wrote: post #3

Very misleading title, especially for a scientific paper. While it was the biggest auction up to that date, a similar auction in Germany just a few months later had a significantly higher revenue, nearly twice as much as the British auction. [0] The paper was published in 2002, so the title was already incorrect when it was published. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum_auction#Germany

And after that, hopes for a big auction at your friendly neighborhood the Netherlands where high! Expecting similar numbers, the action became a big flop with just under 2.5bil euro's.

Re: The Sale of the British 3G Telecom Licenses (2002) [pdf]

#10

Post by londons_explore » Wed, Sep 07, 2016, 11:20 AM UTC

I don't understand why the licenses seem to be 'forever'. Surely a 25 year license which is then sold again at auction would have been a better design.

The 'forever' licenses also can't be resold (although the entire company owning them can merge). That means if in the future another technology which completes with 3G so incumbents don't want to get involved comes along and could make great use of that spectrum, it won't get use.