With Telstra and AAPT both out, I think it's safe to say OZ will go CDMA2000....
Big players drop out of Australian spectrum auction
By Reuters staff
09 October 2000
Australian telecommunications groups Telstra Corp Ltd and AAPT Ltd both dipped out of the government's 3.4 GHz spectrum auction on Monday, leaving only four bidders.
Telstra and AAPT were removed from the auction for 3.4 GHz spectrum, used for wireless local loop and high speed data services, after they failed to bid in the ninth round, a spokesman for the Australian Communications Authority said.
They used all their entitlements not to bid in the first eight rounds of the auction, which started last Tuesday and is expected to last several weeks.
The four remaining bidders, regional pay-TV group Austar Communications Ltd , Spectrum Access Pty Ltd, AKAL Ltd and Walker Wireless, racked up high bids totalling A$42.2 million at the end of round ten.
Analysts said last week the government may be able to raise around A$500 million from the spectrum auction.
However, Professor of telecommunications and director of the University of Adelaide's Centre for Telecommunications and Information Networking, Reg Coutts, said below A$200 million was a more realistic figure.
"I would say the amounts of money so far are what we would have reasonably expected, so I don't see Telstra and AAPT pulling out as greatly impacting," Coutts said.
"There are still enough bidders in there," he said.
The government has budgeted on raising A$2.6 billion from mobile phone spectrum sales this financial year with the bulk coming from third generation spectrum, due to be auctioned in January 2001.
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