Radio spectrum battle hots up

By PAULA OLIVER

Bidding for third-generation (3G) radio spectrum continued to heat up yesterday, sending the Government's frequency auction past another milestone.

Total bids have reached $70 million, but many players predict that it is not even close to what the auction will eventually fetch.

After a slow start, the Government must be rubbing its hands with glee at the state of play - four serious and deep-pocketed contenders for three blocks of 3G spectrum. Telecommunications giants Vodafone, Telstra Saturn and Telecom clashed yesterday after bids from newspaper and magazine publisher INL raised the price of each portion of spectrum.

Telstra Saturn reacted to INL's bid by outbidding Telecom, which in turn waited until the last round of the day before bidding over INL.

3G bids total almost $42 million.

Walker Wireless and Telstra Saturn resumed the battle for 1098 frequency, which can be used for high-speed internet and data communication.

Walker Wireless was chasing that frequency in early bidding rounds, but Telstra Saturn is also keen and had continually outbid Walker.

Bids for the frequency have reached $3.3 million. Second-generation (2G) is occupied by Ihug, Vodafone, Telecom, Hutchison Telecommunications, and Transpower.