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Five licences for blocks of spectrum for
3G services are being auctioned. The largest licence is reserved for a new entrant to the
UK Telecoms market. Reserve prices for the five licences total £500 million. |
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The design of the auction is a modified
version of that used by the US Federal Communications Commission. Bids will be submitted
by fax with bidding for the licences taking place in a sequence of rounds. In each round
participants bid simultaneously for any one of the five licences. |
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A First Phase of the auction was planned to deal with
any Associated Bidders (ie bidders with a high degree of common ownership) entering the
auction. As there are no such Associated Bidders, the auction consists of a Second
Phase only. |
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Existing operators may not bid for the
licence reserved for new entrants. At the end of each round bidders are advised of all
bids made. The holder of the highest bid is required to remain inactive in following
rounds until outbid. The auction, which may last several weeks, will end when no further
bids are received. |
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The thirteen bidders taking part in the
auction are: |
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