Skyrocketing bids forced five companies to drop out of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System auction last week, leaving eight companies to scramble for five licenses that now have a combined value of more than $22 billion.
By the time round 106 was over, 3GUK, Crescent Wireless Ltd., Epsilon, One.Tel and SpectrumCo had all withdrawn from the bidding process. The remaining bidders were allowed to take up to two recess days to regroup before proceeding.
Vodafone AirTouch plc had pushed the price of license B above $5 billion with a bid of $5.73 billion. A week prior, Vodafone also had the high bid at $3.55 billion. Telesystem International Wireless Inc. had the highest bid for license A with $4.53 billion, and license C was going for $4.01 billion, with the latest offer from One2One.
License D was at $4.28 billion compliments of NTL Mobile. Orange plc made its presence felt with a $4.09 billion bid for license E. WorldCom Wireless and Telefonica each had held the highest bids for Licenses D and E, respectively, the week prior.
The auction is expected to last at least several more weeks.
