2GHz Band (3G) Auction (Auction 200)

Details of Rounds

Round 1:

AAPT Spectrum (ACT) Pty Ltd has withdrawn from the auction
All other entrants bid in the first round, 5 of them placed their bids within the first minute of the auction opening. 3G Investments placed theirs 40 minutes after the auction commencement.
The only lot where competition ensued was for National 2 with Telstra, Vodafone and 3G Investments bidding on it. Vodafone won the lot by bidding $200,000 above the starting price. Telstra also bid above the starting price.
3G Investments, Optus and Vodafone have reduced their eligibility. They have done this by not bidding to the required activity, and by requesting that a waiver be not applied for the round. The implication is that they wish to reduce their spectrum requirements.
In Round 2 only 3G Investments and Telstra will be required to bid in order to maintain their eligibility.

Round 2:

Only 3G Investments and Telstra bid. The other 4 entrants were not required to bid.
Telstra bid for National 2, as they did in Round 1. They overbid the Round 2 minimum price for the lot by $350,000.
3G Investments bid on Capital City 4, which is a paired 10 MHz lot. They also bid on the remaining Ungrouped Regional 1. This gave them a holding almost equivalent to a National lot, but with the loss of technical utility which must be associated with frequency and geographic discontinuities. Capital City lots 5 and 6 would be technically preferable but adjacent bidders may require more than 10 MHz
CKW Wireless, Optus and Hutchison's bids remained unchanged from Round 1.
As Telstra overbid Vodafone for the National 2 lot, Vodafone will be required to bid in Round 3 to maintain eligibility.

Round 3:

Only 2 bids were made in Round 3, by Vodafone and Optus
Both were made on National 1 - held by Optus at the end of Round 2
Vodafone placed a bid $950,000 greater than the minimum price
Optus placed a protective bid using the Autobid mechanism. This put in a bid that was one increment greater than the minimum price.
Vodafone was thus the only bidder required to bid in round 4.

Round 4:

In Round 4 only one bid was received. This was from Vodafone for National 1. Vodafone bid more than one increment above the minimum price for the lot. Optus did not put in a protective bid, so Vodafone is now the current high bidder for that lot.
National 2, with better technical utility than National 1, was now priced $28.7m less. The current high bidder for National 2 also has the frequency-adjacent Ungrouped Regional 2 for a total price of $26.5m.
In the next round, Round 5 on Monday 19 March 2001, Optus that will be required to bid to maintain its activity.
The ACA have increased the number of rounds per day to 4. This means results will be available shortly after 10 am on Monday.

Round 5

In Round 5 only one bid was received. This was from Optus, rebidding for the National 1 lot. The bid made was more than one increment above the minimum required for that lot.
Vodafone, having lost the high bid on National 1 will now be required to bid in Round 6 in order to maintain eligibility. All of the other 5 bidders have sufficient activity and need not bid in the next round.
Next round results will be available after 12 noon.

Round 6

Only one bid received in Round 6, as expected from Vodafone. With this bid they have changed their focus from National 1 to National 2, in doing so they are now competing with Telstra who held the High Bid for National 2 at the end of Round 5. With this bid, Vodafone have bid 4.7 times the increment, giving a significant jump in the total bids.

Round 7

Telstra have bid in Round 7. They avoided competition with Vodafone on National 2 by bidding for the Capital City 5 and Capital City 6 lots and by overbidding 3G Investments for the Ungrouped Regional 1 lots. All bids placed were for the minimum price. With this set of bids Telstra have effectively gained the High Bids on the same amount of spectrum as they had at the end of Round 5 but at a lower price.
As two additional lots now have bids the total value of all bids has increased.
Having lost the Ungrouped Regional 1 lots, 3G Investments will now have to bid in Round 8 to maintain eligibility.

Round 8

No bids were received during Round 8, thus 3G Investments have reduced their eligibility. Reducing eligibility indicates an intention to decrease their spectrum requirements.
To induce further bidding, the ACA may now increase the Activity Percentage. If previous auctions are a guide, this Activity Percentage will be 95 %.
Next round results will be available after 10 am - Tuesday 20 March 2001.

Round 9

No bids were received in Round 9.
The ACA has yet to raise the Activity Percentage.
Currently 24 of the 58 lots on offer have received no bids. These 24 lots have a reserve price of $131,440,000.

Round 10

No bids were received in Round 10.
The ACA has now raised the Activity Percentage to 95 %.

Round 11

Hutchison have placed bids for unpaired spectrum contiguous with their current high bids for paired spectrum. These were Sydney 2, Melbourne 2, Brisbane 2, Adelaide 2 and Perth 2. These were all minimum bids.
19 of the 58 lots have yet to receive a bid.
3G Investments, Optus and Telstra, made no bids and took a waiver.
Vodafone was within its eligibility at the end of Round 10 and thus did not need to bid.

Round 12

In Round 12, one bid was received. This was from Optus who overbid CKW Wireless for the unpaired Capital City 2 lot. The bid by Optus was for the minimum price.
CKW Wireless will need to bid in Round 13 in order to maintain eligibility.
3G Investments and Telstra did not place bids and lost a further waiver.

Round 13

14 bids were received in Round 13, these were from 3G Investments, CKW Wireless and Telstra.
3G Investments overbid Telstra on the regional lots: Grafton 2, Dubbo 2, Albury 2 and Regional Vic 2. Each bid was by $4,000 dollars more than the minimum bid.
CKW Wireless re-bid for the Capital City 2 lot that was lost to Optus in the previous round. They bid the minimum price.
Telstra placed bids for lots that had so far received no bids. These being Sydney 1, Melbourne 1, Brisbane 1, Adelaide 1, Perth 1, Hobart 1, Darwin 1 and Canberra 1 (all unpaired frequency lots) plus Capital City 3. The bids for the Ungrouped Capital City 1 lots were placed with a small increment above the minimum prices. Capital City 3 bid was for the minimum price.

Round 14

5 bids were received in Round 14, from Optus and Telstra.
Optus overbid Vodafone for the unpaired Capital City 1 lot. The bid was for the minimum price.
Telstra rebid for the 4 regional lots where 3G Investments overbid them in the previous round. All bids were made at the minimum price.

Round 15

Only 1 bid was received in Round 15. This was from Vodafone who rebid for the unpaired Capital City 1 lot. Optus had overbid them for this lot in the previous round. The bid was for the minimum price.
3G Investments have reduced their eligibility to 1579. Their activity target is 1500. A paired 10 MHz lot requires an eligibility of 1500.

Round 16

Only one bid was received during Round 16. This was from Optus where they have overbid CKW Wireless for the unpaired Capital City 2 lot. The bid was for the minimum price.
From its bidding pattern, Optus seems to be seeking an unpaired 5 MHz coverage in the Capital Cities as well as the National lot on which they hold the high bid.

Round 17

Only one bid was received in Round 17. This was from CKW Wireless for the unpaired Capital City 2 lot, where Optus had overbid them in the previous round. The bid was for the minimum price.

Round 18

13 bids were received in Round 18
Optus overbid Hutchison in the unpaired/ungrouped lots of: Sydney 2, Melbourne 2, Brisbane 2, Adelaide 2, and Perth 2. All bids were at the minimum price. These bids were not sufficient to meet their activity target and Optus have taken a small reduction in eligibility rather than use a waiver.
Telstra placed protective bids on the unpaired/ungrouped lots of Sydney 1 through Canberra 1 - presumably believing Optus would turn their attention to these lots, Optus having failed to hold Capital City 1 or Capital City 2. These protective bids were made using an Autobid mechanism which does not activate the bid unless another bidder bids on that lot.

Round 19

The only bids received this round were protective bids from Telstra for the "Ungrouped Capital City 1" lots where they hold the high bids.
Hutchison have chosen not to overbid Optus for the Sydney 2 through Perth 2 lots and have taken a reduction in eligibility.
The Auction has closed