Mediaset, Wind and Fastweb have withdrawn from Italy’s WiMAX auction, but 15 bidders remain and total bids have reached €123 million. According to the country’s Communications Ministry, this figure was achieved at the end of the seventh round of the auction for 35 WiMAX licences, and the sum is up 150% on initial offers of €49.7 million at the start of the auction on February 13th. A new round of bids will be held Tuesday.

Previous WiMAX auctions in France and Germany failed to generate significant revenue. Among those believed to have made the most competitive bids for the Italian frequencies is Italy’s largest telecom operator, Telecom Italia SpA.