The ongoing spectrum auction in the US chalked up $34 billion by the close of bidding on 21 November, as the mobile industry dug deeper in its pockets than many experts anticipated.

The AWS-3 auction run by the Federal Communications Commission is the first major contest in the US since 2008, which partly explains the level of interest.

The contest is set to become the most lucrative spectrum auction staged in the States, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Experts have been surprised by how participants have thrown themselves into the bidding.

Many expected the auction to raise less than half the current total, which is likely to grow even further.

The thinking was that the mobile industry was more focused on another auction of radio frequencies held by TV broadcasters. But that contest has been pushed back until 2016, in the face of legal action from the broadcasters.

The bidding will resume today (24 November).

The frequencies on offer are in the following bands: 1695-1710 MHz, 1755-1780 MHz and 2155-2180 MHz part of the spectrum.