An auction for Germany's mobile spectrum concluded today with Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and Telefónica emerging as the biggest winners. The month-long bidding war started on April 12 and raised a less-than-expected €4.3 billion, with blocks sold in 800MHz, 1.8GHz, 2GHz, and 2.6GHz bands. Some of the airwaves were previously used by analog TVs and should save mobile operators money on expanding their 3G networks.

It's reported that the above-mentioned companies each secured two 10MHz blocks in the 800MHz band (the most valuable range). Altogether, 41 blocks were sold in the auction: KPN paid €283.6 million for eight spectrum blocks, Deutsche Telekom doled out €1.3 billion for 10 blocks, Telefónica put down Є1.38 billion for 11 blocks, and Vodafone walked away with 12 blocks for €1.42 billion.

Other European nations, including the UK, watched the auction closely. Not only was it Germany's largest spectrum sale, but neighboring countries plan to hold similar auctions.