Entrepreneur's $170,000 bids outpoint Telecom

By PAULA OLIVER

Entrepreneur Nick Gordon was the big mover at the Government's radio spectrum auction yesterday, weighing in with two hefty bids that clearly outpointed Telecom.

Gordon Marketing's two bids of $170,000 for second-generation spectrum surprised many, and almost doubled Telecom's $90,000 bids made earlier in the day.

Mr Gordon's bids were accompanied by further bids for small licences that exist under the umbrella management rights.

Earlier in the auction, players were concerned that some bids were not serious, because no attempt was being made to capture the subsidiary licences.

The move by Mr Gordon, a director of the Pacific Retail Group, could remove any such suspicion surrounding him.

Although a bidding war for 2G appears to have finally begun in earnest, some bidders are known to have become frustrated at the dawdling pace the auction is taking.

There were just four bids for management rights of 2G in the latest round, and third-generation spectrum has yet to capture the imagination.

Kentucky bourbon importer Ian Britton did not bid yesterday, while giants INL and Jump Capital also kept their fingers out of the pie.

The saga continues today, when Telecom gets its chance to reply to Mr Gordon at 9 am.