The Federal Network Agency of Germany (Bundesnetzagentur) held an auction on distributing frequencies for 4G networks. During this auction the government received about €4.4 billion. Most frequencies went to the telecommunication holding Deutsche Telekom as well as the mobile operators Vodafone and O2. Two last mentioned companies paid €1.42 and €1.38 billion for 11 and 10 blocks of frequencies correspondingly.

The government sold out the frequencies which became free after Germany had moved from analogue TV to digital TV. However, the auctions can’t be called ‘very successful’. Let’s compare: in 2000 the government received about € 50 billion for licensing 3G networks.

Now it is supposed that LTE wireless broadband networks will be deployed at the new frequencies. Their testing and trial operation is already being conducted in Germany as well as in Norway and Sweden. In December 2009 in Oslo the first commercial 4G network in the world was launched. By the end of this year the biggest mobile operator in the USA – Verizon Wireless – will have launched its own LTE network.