Which region has spent the most on spectrum licences?

The PolicyTracker Spectrum Database includes data on spectrum assignments from over 130 countries over the past 20 years. Using the database, we can identify where mobile operators (and other spectrum licensees) have spent the most on licences (in USD, at historic exchange rates). Click “play” on the chart below to see how this works out.

The chart begins in 2000 when the infamous 3G auctions took place in Europe. It then shows the cumulative total spent in each region.

In 2000, operators in the UK and Germany paid a particularly high price for licences in the 2.1 GHz band. The UK auction raised USD35 billion, while the German award raised USD50 billion.

North America, a latecomer to 3G auctions, began to catch up when the US held its AWS auction in 2006. Canada then held an AWS auction in 2008. By 2008, a total of USD13 billion had been raised in both countries.

In 2010 India held an expensive 2.1 GHz auction, raising USD18 billion, temporarily floating the Asia-Pacific region into third place.

Between 2011 and 2013, spending increases further as countries start 4G auctions. In 2013, the UK auctioned the 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz bands, raising just US$2.5 billion, an amount so much smaller than the 3G auction that it prompted an investigation by the country’s National Audit Office.

In the 2020s, countries start awarding 5G spectrum. These licences were particularly expensive in the US following its first mid-band 5G auction of the CBRS band. The country creeps closer to Europe in the following years, as it awards more 5G spectrum at high-end prices.

The chart above is just a small example of the power of the PolicyTracker Spectrum Database. Available to our Research Service subscribers, the Spectrum Database tracks allocations, assignments and prices paid for spectrum. It is updated quarterly and is available in Google Sheets or as an Excel document.

Information from the database is also accessible on our interactive web-based database and our recently launched Data Explorer function.