Spectrum bidding

Tevita Vuibau
Tuesday, July 23, 2013

VODAFONE, Digicel and Telecom Fiji Limited have all made successful bids in the first-ever auction of frequencies on the radio spectrum that opened yesterday.

Notices posted by the Department of Communications yesterday showed that of the three telecommunications providers, only Vodafone filled their 30 MHz quota and had left the ongoing 4G spectrum auction leaving TFL and Digicel to bid for the remaining frequencies.

Each company had a quota of 30 MHz.

In total, there were 20 lots of spectrum to bid for with bids ranging from $131,500 to $504,700 by the close of the auctions yesterday. The auction will run until July 26.

By the close of the last round of bidding yesterday, Vodafone successfully bid for six lots of spectrum — paying $144,000 for each of them.

Vodafone Fiji's managing director Aslam Khan said the spectrum bidding process was transparent with all industry players given a fair opportunity to participate and bid for the frequency spectrums on offer.

"Vodafone Fiji was able to secure and win all the frequencies for which it had placed its bid at a reasonable price," Mr Khan said.

Digicel successfully bid for three lots, spending $420,500 for two and paying $420,300 for the third.

Digicel commercial director Andrew Skelton said Digicel was happy to have secure 15Mhz in the 700 band adding that this underscored their commitment to their customers. He said he would be able to make further comments once the bidding had closed.

TFL meanwhile successfully bid for three lots, paying the highest bid of $504,700 for each of them.

Overall, about $3.6 million was spent on the first day of bidding with 12 lots snapped up by the competing companies.