FRANKFURT, Germany — During a auction that went on for a three-month period, the Federal Network Agency announced on Wednesday that Germany raised a reported €6.55 billion from four telekom firms from the sale of 5G frequencies — to supply households with fast internet and share their networks.
Germany’s wireless networks currently rank only 46th in the world for download speeds.
The highest bids that were received came from Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, Telefonica Germany (O2) and 1&1 Drillisch, a virtual mobile operator controlled by German firm United Internet, also made a successful bid to become a new operator. The Montabaur-based company manages the GMX and Web.de brands.
The auction requires operators to provide high-speed coverage to 98% of households by 2022 and also to share their network with competitors under a “national roaming” clause in the contracts.
The money raised from the auction will be used to upgrade all Germany’s broadband networks for improved mobile phone coverage, according to the BNetzA.
Germany raises 6.55 billion euros in epic 5G spectrum auction https://t.co/5tp23xmxDR pic.twitter.com/7dKWDiRVau
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) 12 juni 2019
