Australian telcos splash $473M on midband spectrum

Australian operators have shown they still have an appetite for 5G spectrum, snapping nearly all of the 3.4GHz and 3.7GHz frequencies offered in the latest auction.

Regulator ACMA said 574 of the available 588 spectrum lots were sold off to the big four telcos, who paid an aggregate 722 million Australian dollars (US$472.9 million).

Telstra was the biggest buyer, investing AU$545.6 million ($358 million) for up to 110MHz of fresh spectrum.

The second biggest was TPG Telecom, Telstra's would-be partner in a regional network sharing deal that was rejected earlier this year on competition grounds. TPG paid AU$128.2 million for 150MHz in the 3.7GHz band.

Both companies said the fresh spectrum was for boosting capacity and to improve customer experience, rather than expanding rural coverage.

Telstra said 80MHz of its new spectrum is for the big cities, Sydney and Melbourne, with just 25MHz in rural Australia, while TPG said nearly all of its new frequencies were for city coverage.

Optus Mobile paid AU$33.5 million ($22.0 million) for four lots of 3.7GHz spectrum in the growth regions of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, while national broadband wholesaler NBN beefed up its FWA capabilities with 200 lots in rural areas, for which it paid AU$14.4 million ($9.4 million).

South Korea sets $57M floor price

The 3.4GHz band licenses will expire in December 2030 and the 3.7GHz licenses in January 2044.

Telstra has Australia's biggest 5G network, which it says covers 85% of the population. It said its midband spectrum already carries most of its 5G traffic.

While Australian telcos are loading up on midband spectrum, South Korean authorities are making another run at finding a buyer for their vacant 28GHz frequencies.

The Ministry for Science and ICT (MSIT) sold around 800MHz of 28GHz spectrum to the three incumbent operators in 2018, but required them to return it last year after failing to meet their buildout commitments.

Now the ministry has started a fresh auction, open to non-telcos only, setting a minimum price for a national allocation at 74 billion Korean won (US$57 million), according to local media reports.

It's not the first time it has tried to attract a new player into this already well-served market, so as a sweetener it is also offering 20MHz in the valuable 700MHz band.

If it can't find a national licensee, it will sell the spectrum on a regional basis.