Seven Firms Pay A$830 Million to Bid for Australian Spectrum
By Mathew Carr
Sydney, Feb. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Seven companies have paid A$830 million ($440 million) for the right to bid for a licenses in the government's high-speed wireless spectrum auction slated for next month, government officials said.
Six of the seven lodged sufficient funds to bid for one of the four national licenses available, the Australian Communications Authority said. Previously, it was unclear how many of the seven bidders wanted national licenses as opposed to smaller parcels of spectrum.
Australia's three largest mobile carriers Telstra Corp., Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd. and Vodafone Pacific Pty all said they would bid, as well as an Australian unit of Telecom Corp. of New Zealand, the telecommunications regulator said.
Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Ltd., 58 percent- owned by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., also said it would bid, as did 3G Investments (Australia) Pty., a unit of San Diego- based Qualcomm Inc., the ACA said.
CKW Wireless Pty., a unit of San Jose-based ArrayComm Inc., a wireless and Internet technology company, indicated it plans to bid for a small amount of spectrum, the ACA said.
The ACA, which asked bidders to pay up to A$280 million as an ``eligibility payment'' and entry fees if they were interested in buying a national license, will soon set reserve prices for the spectrum.
The government has budgeted to raise A$2.6 billion from the auction of telecommunications spectrum in the year to June 30, 2001. Some analysts expect the sale will garner half that amount.
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