In the recent Swedish 1800 MHz auction, half of the available spectrum in the band for which current licences expire in 2027 was offered. All three existing licensees took part, but only two won spectrum. As a result, the band is now evenly split between Telia and N4M with Tre not having any 1800 MHz spectrum.

We interpret these results with regard to the questions regulators consider when faced with expiring licences:

1. What are the trade-offs between running an auction and simply renewing licences to previous licensees?
2. Do operators wish to hold spectrum in every band in order to operate efficiently?
3. How much do operators value contiguous spectrum assignments?

See our thoughts here.