Spectrum auction splutters back to life

By PAULA OLIVER

Going, going and nearly gone but before the electronic hammer could fall, the Government's radio spectrum auction on the internet came back to life yesterday with some serious bids.

A clear round of bidding in the morning meant that a red alert message greeted visitors to the auction's website in the afternoon, warning that a second clear round would bring an end to the snail-pace auction.

But a flurry of activity gave it a lifeline, in the form of serious bids from Walker Wireless and Telstra Saturn.

Two $200,000 bids from Walker Wireless are the largest yet for second-generation (2G) spectrum, and Telstra's widespread bids for 2G were not far behind, totalling $864,000 over nine lots.

However, the threat of auction closure failed to bring a challenger out of the woodwork for a chunk of lucrative third-generation spectrum, which still sits in the hands of three big telcos - Vodafone, Telstra Saturn, and Telecom.

Media giant INL is yet to make a bid, and Jump Capital has not given any indication of when it plans to join the action.

Ian Britton, an importer of Kentucky bourbon, is the surprise entry into the auction, but he too is yet to register a bid.

The auction's bids total $36.6 million, still a long way short of the Government's hope for hundreds of millions of dollars.

Bidding continues today, giving auction observers a chance to see how serious the new lease of life really is.