Mobile telecoms Air supremacy-移动电信 制空权-飘渺的动人眼神
关键词： 移动电信，制空权，眼神America's wireless-spectrum auction avoids the pitfalls of Europe's
美国的无线服务拍卖没有重蹈欧洲的覆辙
LIKE a deity, radio spectrum is invisible, omnipresent and commands awesome power. As America's auction for spectrum to support a new generation of wireless services draws to a close, the bids have already reached $13.8 billion. That may sound like a lot, but it is a fraction of the sum raised by similar auctions in Europe in 2000 and 2001, when bidders were still beguiled by visions of wireless nirvana.
无线电波像神明一样，无法看到而又无处不在，并拥有让世人敬畏的力量。为推动新一代无线服务而进行的频谱拍卖会进入了尾声，出价已飙升至138亿美元。而这个数目尽管听来很可观，但却只是2000年和2001年欧洲举办的类似拍卖会所得的零头而已，那时的竞拍者都被一种无线天堂的幻境所蒙骗了。
Over 150 companies bid for licences divided into regions and cities, allowing operators to cobble together nationwide coverage or concentrate their efforts. Despite hopes that a new national operator might emerge, the spectrum largely went to existing wireless firms (with the exception of a consortium of cable companies partly backed by Sprint). T-Mobile, America's smallest nationwide operator, with a huge shortage of spectrum, is poised to pay $4.2 billion for the largest block of licences; Verizon bid $2.8 billion for its share; the cable consortium offered $2.4 billion for its batch and Cingular (which has abundant spectrum after its acquisition of AT&T Wireless) added to its reserves by bidding a modest $1.3 billion.
超过150家公司竞拍被划分到地区和城市的无线电许可，拥有了许可之后，运营商既可以将联合起来将无线服务覆盖全国也可以量力而行地集中地区服务。本来无线许可权还是被现有的无线服务公司所瓜分，没有改变势力格局。但由Sprint所支持的有线电视公司联盟是个特例，是在本次拍卖活动中出现的新兴势力。T-Mobile，美国最小的全国性运营商，深感网络覆盖的欠缺，拿出了42亿美元购下无线服务中最大的份额；Verizon也花了28亿美元买到了自己的份额；有线电视公司联盟为其成员投下了24亿的资金，而Cingular尽管并购了AT&T之后获得了丰富的无线频谱资源，但却十分谨慎地拿走了13亿的份额。
The result is that today's broadband duopoly between the fixed-line telecoms operators and the cable companies is now moving into the wireless sector. The spectrum will be used from 2008 for “advanced wireless services” such as video-calling on mobile phones—the kind of thing that is known as “third generation” (3G) technology in the rest of the world.
结果是，固定电话服务商与有线电视服务商结成的垄断宽带接入的寡头联盟把目光都开始转向无线网络运营上。从2008年开始，“更加先进的无线服务”例如视频移动电话将以其他国家称作“第三代”（3G）的形式登陆无线市场。
The American auction is a study in sobriety compared with the excesses of Europe's 3G auctions in 2000 and 2001, which raised almost $100 billion but are blamed for nearly bankrupting many operators. For example, where German mobile operators paid roughly $8 billion each for licences to offer service to around 80m people, American operators will have spent as little as $2.4 billion to cover a population of 300m (see chart).
美国的这次拍卖与欧洲3G市场2000，2001年膨胀的拍卖相比，是种很冷静的探索。尽管欧洲的拍卖共拍得款项1000亿美元之多，但由于竞拍的原因到导致许多运营商破产成了欧洲拍卖会最大的败笔。比如，德国人花了80亿美元才勉强买下了覆盖8000万人口的服务许可，相比之下美国人只花了24亿美元就得到覆盖3亿人口的许可。（见表格）
The outcome of America's auction was different for a variety of reasons. First, America's regulatory regime allows operators to decide how to use their spectrum and also allows them to resell it. European operators that bought 3G spectrum licences, in contrast, had to use a particular technology, called W-CDMA, which was beset with technical problems that held up the launch of 3G services for years. They were not allowed to use existing spectrum for 3G, and no other new spectrum was on offer; so they were bidding, in effect, for the right to stay in business. As a result, they were prepared to pay very high prices.
各种各样的原因导致了美国拍卖的结果与欧洲的截然不同。首先，美国灵活的政策允许运营商自己决定如何使用无线资源并且允许其转售。而相比欧洲的运营商，若购买了3G无线运营许可就必须应用一种被称作W-CDMA的技术。而W-CDMA因为技术上的不成熟而延误了3G服务的推广。并且他们既不能使用现存的3G网络也不能使用其他的无线服务；所以实际上，运营商竞拍的是能够留在业界的权利。结果他们宁愿花大价钱。
Next, America's mobile operators could see, by looking at the experience of 3G operators in Europe and Asia, that mobile-data services have not been as lucrative as expected. Furthermore, technical improvements to boost the capacity of existing spectrum and further auctions in 2007 and 2008 mean the wireless industry will be increasingly competitive. Because the expected financial return from the spectrum is lower, so too is its value, says Greg Staple, a telecoms lawyer at Vinson & Elkins in Washington, DC.
其次，借鉴欧亚各地3G运营商的经验，美国人发现移动数据服务业并不像期待的那样盈利。而且从长远来看，技术革新将大大提升现存无线网络的性能，再加上2007，2008年的拍卖，未来的无线产业竞争将会更加激烈。华盛顿Vinson & Elkins（法律公司）的电信业律师Greg Staple说到，由于无线产业期望的利润大打折扣，无线资源的价值随之下降。
Although America was spared the mayhem of Europe's auctions, its design still had a few problems. Prices for national coverage differed enormously depending on how the licences were combined, notes Simon Wilkie, an economist at the University of Southern California. Companies that bid for a few large regions to obtain nationwide spectrum paid almost twice as much as firms with the equivalent amount of spectrum assembled from hundreds of licences in smaller areas. This suggests an inefficiency in the auction design, since the same coverage ought to cost the same amount, says Paul Klemperer, an economist at Oxford University who helped design Britain's spectrum auction.
尽管美国的这次拍卖幸免于欧洲那样的混乱，但这个计划同样存在一些问题。南加州大学的经济学家Simon Wilkie指出，覆盖全国网络的许可价格因许可的组合方式不同而有很大的差异。为了让服务覆盖全国，在总面积相同的情况下，购买几个大块许可的公司花费了购买几百个小块许可的公司两倍的价钱。曾帮助设计欧洲范围内拍卖的，牛津大学的经济学家Paul Klemperer指出，由于相同覆盖面积的服务许可理应售价相同，因此从这点上可以看出美国拍卖设计上的缺陷。
Spectrum auctions are a relatively new idea. As well as raising money for governments, which previously just gave spectrum away, auctions ensure that the spectrum is allocated efficiently and goes to the companies that value it the most. America's auction was an improvement on many of those in Europe, which were flawed in some ways. The idea is sound in theory, but there are evidently still some wrinkles to be ironed out in practice.
无线资源拍卖是个新生事物。曾经对无线资源放任的政府，现在将从中获益并且通过拍卖保证无线资源被合适的公司最有效的利用。相对于带着许多致命缺陷的欧洲拍卖来说，美国的拍卖从很多方面有了长足的进步。尽管这个办法理论上可行，但显然在实际操作上还有许多问题需要解决。
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