3 Denmark has emerged as the surprise winner of the largest block of LTE spectrum being auctioned off in Denmark, reports Telegeography. According to the Danish regulator (Telestyrelsen), 3 Denmark won the largest block comprising 2x10MHz paired and 25MHz unpaired spectrum in the 2.5GHz band suitable for LTE. The operator – which is 60 percent-owned by Hutchison Whampoa with the remainder held by a Swedish investment group – is the country’s fourth-placed mobile player. Market-leader TDC was awarded 2x20MHz paired spectrum, while Telenor Denmark and TeliaSonera’s local Danish arm (Telia Denmark) both received 2x20MHz paired and 10MHz unpaired spectrum. A final round of bidding will allow the operators to name preferences for a specific position in the band. Following that allocation round, Telestyrelsen said it will announce the exact awards and prices for the licences.

The auctions are likely to make Denmark an early test-bed for commercial LTE services, following in the footsteps of other Nordic markets such as Sweden and Norway where limited services have already been launched. TDC said last month that it is planning to launch LTE services in the country as early as June, a timeframe which would likely make it only the second operator in the world to roll-out commercial LTE networks to date. It is reportedly planning to switch on Danish LTE networks initially in the major cities of Copenhagen and Aarhus. For TeliaSonera, a Danish launch would follow its pioneering LTE network launches in Stockholm (Sweden) and Oslo (Norway).