The future of mobile broadband is currently being decided for German consumers as four leading mobile network providers have begun the process of bidding for the 4G spectrum.

Ten years ago the German government was able to generate about £44 billion from the sale of the 3G spectrum and this has been key to the growth of mobile broadband for a decade. Now it expects that the 4G auction will also bring in billions, but the final figure could fall short of that achieved by 3G in the year 2000.

Analysts believe that networks will collectively pay up to £10 billion for the rights to own a slice of the 4G spectrum, which will bring mobile broadband speeds ten times faster than the current maximum afforded by 3G.

The German equivalents of O2, Vodafone and T-Mobile will all be playing their part in the 4G spectrum auction. To be pedantic the correct term for this initial spectrum is LTE (Long Term Evolution) which is seen by many as a gateway towards even faster 4G mobile broadband in the future.

Analysts will be using the German auction as an indicator as to how other markets, including the UK, will respond to the 4G revolution and the future of mobile broadband. It is believed that some networks will be more willing to commit to 4G than others and when the spectrum is allocated in the UK, the industry will watch closely to see who comes out on top.

Many observers are predicting that BT could enter the 4G auction in the UK, making it one of the few landline providers to jump on the next-generation mobile broadband wagon.

Simple Broadband’s Communications Manager Simon Gerrard commented “The current broadband speeds and deals, including the Orange mobile broadband free laptop offers, will be further improved once 4G and LTE technology comes along, although the providers have a lot to sort out before then.”