FabSwingers.com forum: Why paltry sum raised for Treasury in 5G spectrum auction is actually good news

By *atEvolution OP Couple
over a year ago

atlantisEVOLUTION Swingers Club. Stoke

https://news.sky.com/story/why-paltry-sum-raised-for-treasury-in-5g-spectrum-auction-is-actually-good-news-12248849

While we won't be catching Covid from it, we will still catch many benefits . . .

"In April 2000, the then-chancellor, Gordon Brown, succeeded in extracting £22.5bn from mobile phone operators when he auctioned off the 3G spectrum.

Mr Brown was just about the only one who made any money from the auction.

The 3G auction, with the benefit of hindsight, was a disaster for the UK.

Having to pay so much for the licences deprived the mobile operators of capital that they needed to build out their networks.

That ultimately wounded the UK."

"The latest auction of 5G spectrum, completed on Wednesday, saw the Treasury rake in a mere £1.36bn - only a smidgen higher than the £1.1bn reserve price and well short of analyst expectations."

"Countries that instead gave away 3G spectrum or sold it for comparatively little, such as Japan, won a technological lead over those which made the operators pay up. Meanwhile, because they had to borrow heavily to buy 3G spectrum - the interest on that debt wiping out profits - and made heavy use of capital allowances in building their 3G networks, the mobile operators ended up paying little or no tax in the UK for many years afterwards.

Effectively, the mobile operators ended up clawing back the money Mr Brown prised from them.

So every pound that the mobile operators have not paid in the latest auction is a pound that can be ploughed instead into 5G roll-out."

Well done Rishi Sunak. The future is 5G.

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By *ercuryMan
over a year ago

Grantham

Yes, its now time to get cracking and get the UK upto speed on Internet connectivity.

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By *uliaChrisCouple
over a year ago

westerham

It's interesting to see some figure on this, I remember thinking at the time of the 3G auction that its not free money, it has to come from the operators, ie the customers, ie us.

Yet it was lauded at the time, I believe it was some mathematical game theory guy who Gordon brought in to maximise the method of conducting the auction to raise maximum revenue. His remit must have been very narrow, and not to consider the effect on service investment or customers.

Can't believe that some people still hark back to PPI Gordon.

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By *atEvolution OP Couple
over a year ago

atlantisEVOLUTION Swingers Club. Stoke

The lesson really learned is that where there was little or no profit at the telecoms companies it ultimately resulted it little or no tax revenue to the treasury.

This time around it will be totally different.

As my cat keeps saying "Meow" and then he licks his lips.

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By *ethnmelvCouple
over a year ago

Cardiff

"The lesson really learned is that where there was little or no profit at the telecoms companies it ultimately resulted it little or no tax revenue to the treasury.

This time around it will be totally different.

As my cat keeps saying "Meow" and then he licks his lips.

For clarity, at the time of 3G two things were happenning - Gordon Brown wanted cash and Telecoms Operators were trying to ‘own’ data. This was before Facebook, Instagram, Google, Apple, Twitter, etc. Companies tried ‘walled gardens’ to stop customers churning to other networks & buying bandwidth was seen as the way to win! It wasn’t, I advised one Operator to pull out of the auctions and then to buy one of its competitors as it would have no funds to actually invest. But they all went ahead like Lemmings. The outcome was UK 3G rollout was rubbish and Telco Operators simply became data carriers - they are a Utility now.

So maybe 5G will be better, but the reality is that for most people what we have now is fine. Better national fibre will be good in terms of ‘levelling up’.

Whereas UK Telecom Operators used to make huge profits, now they don’t. The huge profits are with Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Twitter, etc & none of them pay taxes in the UK on their huge Revenue. If we actually taxed global mnc’s properly then we could fund these infrastructure projects much more easily.

Oops, I forgot this is a Swingers site, with a Politics section - why bother with any facts

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By *atEvolution OP Couple
over a year ago

atlantisEVOLUTION Swingers Club. Stoke

Yea lots of plastic phone cases were sold too . . . I should have included it - just so everybody knows where the real money in made.

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By *ostafunMan
over a year ago

near ipswich

Starting in this area in the summer.

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By *atEvolution OP Couple
over a year ago

atlantisEVOLUTION Swingers Club. Stoke

"Starting in this area in the summer.

It really is an advance of 3 and 4 - hellishly fast - enjoy.

Make sure that you have had your jab though lol

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By *ostafunMan
over a year ago

near ipswich

"Starting in this area in the summer.

It really is an advance of 3 and 4 - hellishly fast - enjoy.

Make sure that you have had your jab though lol"
Got my 2nd booked mid april.

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By *atEvolution OP Couple
over a year ago

atlantisEVOLUTION Swingers Club. Stoke

"Starting in this area in the summer.

It really is an advance of 3 and 4 - hellishly fast - enjoy.

Make sure that you have had your jab though lol Got my 2nd booked mid april.

Yay.

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By *ealthy_and_HungMan
over a year ago

Princes Risborough, Luasanne, Alderney

plenty of head room for the ip's to move into to make a bigger profit is all that will happen ... i guarentee ofcom will be forced to step in later to take the money back.

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