Spain gets its minimum price in telco sale
SPAIN’S auction of mobile telecoms radio frequencies raised €1.65bn (£1.44bn), scraping above the minimum €1.62bn price tag set by the government.
The sale formed part of Spain’s attempt to get its government deficit down to six per cent this year from over nine per cent.
The country was put on a negative credit watch by Moody’s on Friday, and yields on its ten-year debt hit 6.2 per cent yesterday.
The auction saw Spain’s largest three mobile operators Telefonica, Vodafone and France Telecom’s Orange split valuable extra radio frequencies, crucial to allow them to meet growing demand for data use on smartphones and tablets.
Eleven telecoms operators applied and were granted the right to enter the auction, crucial in distributing enough mobile frequencies to allow operators to meet future customer demand for data use on smartphones and tablets.