Vodafone shares fall after Dutch spectrum auction

Vodafone's share price fell 1.80 per cent to 158.05p at 16:14 on Monday, three days after Vodafone Netherlands acquired spectrum licenses totalling 1.4bn euros.

Vodafone Netherlands acquired spectrum of 2x10MHz in the 800MHz band, 2x10MHz in the 900MHz band, and 2x20MHz in the 1800MHz band. The spectrum licences are all valid for 17 years.

Additionally, Vodafone Netherlands acquired 2x5MHz in the 2.1GHz band for four years.

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The spectrum award is expected to support Vodafone Netherlands' plans to develop the next generation of wireless data services, known as Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

However, markets were showing concerns over the costs for operators on Monday, after Dutch peer KPN plummeted in Amsterdam after paying more than expected to secure 120MHz of spectrum.

The company paid €1.352bn, much higher than the predicted price tag of around €500m, prompting it to cancel its final dividend for 2012 and substantially reduce its payout next year as a result.

KPN was down 13.07% at €4.03 in afternoon trade.

"Friday's Dutch spectrum auction results took the market by surprise with total proceeds 2.6 times higher than anticipated and Tele2 bidding aggressively to secure all new entrant spectrum," analyst Akil Dattani from JPMorgan Cazenove said.

"This will raise concerns around the Dutch mobile market outlook, which we believe is negative for all operators."

MF