Euronews: BT's Back in Wireless

Vodafone Group plc, Everything Everywhere Ltd. (EE), Telefónica UK Ltd. (O2), 3 and BT Group plc take pole position in the EMEA headlines as the U.K.'s 4G auction results are finally revealed.

U.K. regulator Ofcom has announced the results of the long-delayed 4G spectrum auction, with the four main mobile players all gaining their slice of the action. Vodafone paid the most, shelling out nearly £791 million (US$41.2 billion) for spectrum in two bands. Politically, the main talking point has been just how far short of the government's hoped-for windfall the successful bids have fallen: The auction raised slightly over £2.3 billion ($3.5 billion), when the U.K.'s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, had been banking on £3.5 billion ($5.3 billion) for the state coffers. (See UK 4G Auction Falls Short, Ofcom Announces 4G Auction Results, Vodafone Gets UK 4G Spectrum and UK Kicks Off 4G Auction Process.)

The most interesting feature of the auction results is probably the £186 million ($284 million) acquisition of three chunks of spectrum in the 2.6GHz band by BT subsidiary Niche Spectrum Ventures, which it may use to form part of a wireless broadband offer to enterprise users. This is the first time BT has held a wireless spectrum license since it sold BT Cellnet (now O2) back in 2001. (See BT's Hot for 4G and BT Secures 2.6GHz License.)

Group net income fell 30.7 percent year-on-year at France Télécom – Orange to €3.38 billion ($4.52 billion) on revenues that fell 0.6 percent to €43.51 billion ($58.29 billion). Mobile services revenues in France fell 0.9 percent year-on-year in the face of continuing stiff competition from recent entrant Free Mobile. (See France Telecom Reports 2012 Financials and Iliad Disrupts the French Mobile Scene.)

Com Hem AB, the Swedish pay-TV operator that has just hooked up with Verimatrix Inc. to help secure its multi-screen offer, announced its fourth-quarter results today. Revenues were down slightly year-on-year at 1.14 billion Swedish kroner ($181 million), though fourth-quarter EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization) rose 14 percent to SEK577million ($91 million). (See Com Hem Gets Secure With Verimatrix.) — Paul Rainford, Assistant Editor, Europe, Light Reading