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Britain The 4G spectrum auction
英國 英國4G頻譜拍賣
Second time around
再來一發？
No bonanza for the government, but that might be no bad thing
這一次衙門估計沒得賺，不過或許不是什么壞事
Just under 13 years ago the fax machines at the Radio communications Agency were humming. For weeks they spewed out bids for five licences to run third-generation (3G) mobile-phone services. The sums went up and up: in the end 22.5 billion pounds ($35.9 billion) poured into Gordon Brown’s Treasury. For both companies and governments, these are more sober times. On February 20th Ofcom, the telecoms regulator (into which the agency was subsumed in 2003), said that an auction of spectrum to be used for much faster 4G services had raised only 2.3 billion pounds.
13年前，英國無線電通訊技術局的傳真機嗡嗡作響。幾周內，這里前后向外派發5張第三代手機運營服務牌照（3G牌照）。后來這一服務收益不斷上漲，最終到布朗政府時代，財政收益達225億英鎊（約合359億美元）。然而如今無論是公司還是政府都清醒了不少：今年2月20日，英國電信管理部門，2003年并入無線電通訊技術局的英國通信管理局表示，比3G更快的4G服務的頻譜拍賣僅上漲了23億英鎊。
No one had expected another bonanza, but George Osborne, a chancellor of the exchequer who needs the cash much more than Mr Brown did, had been counting on 3.5 billion pounds. The outcome might be less welcome to the Treasury, but it is better for the industry—and perhaps its customers, too.
大家都不再期待電信領域會再挖出一個金礦來。不過財政大臣喬治·奧斯本可不這樣看。因為比起布朗，他現在手頭并不寬裕。奧斯本還需要35億英鎊。然而4G服務的銷售結果并不能讓英國財政部滿意。不過這對于工業領域來說是個好事，而工業本身或許就是4G通訊服務的消費者。
Ofcom declared five winners: the four companies with 3G networks plus BT, Britain’s biggest fixed-line operator. One of the four, EE, which is jointly owned by Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom-Orange, has been running 4G services since the autumn, having won permission from Ofcom to use spectrum it already had. BT has no plans to build a national mobile network, but intends to enhance its existing broadband and Wi-Fi services. Ofcom expects services on the new spectrum to begin in the spring or early summer.
英國通信管理局表示，如今這個局面下有五大贏家：四家3G網絡公司和英國最大的固定電話運營商BT公司。前四家中的EE公司是由德國電信和法國典型合資經營的，它已經從英國通信管理局那里拿到了頻譜許可權。BT公司則并不打算建造覆蓋全英的移動通訊網，不過它計劃加強現有的寬帶和無線網絡服務。英國通信管理局希望新的頻譜服務能在今年春天或是初夏時分就能啟動。
The 3G auction came at the height of the dotcom frenzy, when inflated prices were being paid for assets in telecoms and information technology. The agency also reserved a block of spectrum for a new entrant: that intensified competition and raised prices across the board. Moreover, mobile operators reasoned that without 3G they would have no business at all. “The operators were paying for their survival,” says Matthew Howett of Ovum, a research firm. They were left without the money to deploy 3G quickly, to the disgruntlement of customers and shareholders. Others have proved more adept at providing other mobile services, such as search and music, than the operators were themselves.
3G服務拍賣適逢互聯網發展的高潮，彼時購買電信信息技術產品的價格也有虛高之嫌。無線電通訊技術局還特地留了一手：加劇競爭和全線上調價格。進一步講，用移動運營商們的總結來說，沒有3G技術，他們就毫無生意可做。歐文研究所的馬修·郝威特表示：“3G技術對運營商們來說生死攸關。”如果不能盡快完成3G服務的布局，運營商將帶著顧客和股東們的不滿從這個市場出局。而其他的參與者已經顯示出他們比運營商本身更能玩轉3G服務，比如他們能提供搜索和音樂等其他移動服務。
Last time, points out John Delaney of IDC, another research firm, the British spectrum auction was one of the first. This time bidders have been able to gauge the going rate from sales in France and Germany. As a group, they have ended up paying a little less—although, in a complicated process, some seem to have done better than others.
另一家研究所互聯網數據中心的約翰·德蘭尼指出，3G剛出來時，英國吃了第一只螃蟹，拍出了第一張頻譜；而這一次投標人還能參考法國和德國的市場。德法聯盟開出的價碼更便宜，而且在某些復雜的程序上，德法做的更出色。
Britain was slower to start deploying 4G than many other countries, but its ministers, regulator and operators are keen to make up the ground. Having avoided overpaying, the operators can now get cracking.
比起其他許多國家，英國這次的4G拍照發放慢了一些。不過內閣大臣們、監管部門和運營商們都期待能有所作為。為了避免出價過高，運營商們已經在有所動作了。翻譯：程蒙
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