For about one and a half weeks or so the German spectrum auction was not very exciting for external observers as little activity could be spotted. On Wednesday morning, though, things started to heat up.
Until that time, the total amount that was bid at this point was still below 400 million euros. Then suddenly, activity spiked and within a day the proceeds were almost up to one billion euros. The main activity for the moment is focused on the 800 MHz digital dividend band. By the end of Friday, the few MHz available there accounted for around €1.2 billion of the total €1.46 billion bid for everything so far.
While in other bands there is an ample amount of spectrum for everyone, only 30 MHz is available there, and consequently not enough space for the four contenders each wanting at least a 10 MHz chunk. So while a single 2x5MHz chunk is priced at over €200 million there at the moment, the same amount of spectrum can be had for 'as little' as €7 million in the 2.6 GHz band.