Reinhard Houben, economic spokesman for the parliamentary group of the liberal party FDP and a member of the advisory committee of the Federal Network Agency, said that the state "should take little or no money" from the allocation of the frequencies, while applying stricter requirements for network coverage.
Houben also said that the operators are limited in their ability to invest due to the high costs of this year's frequency allocation. Furthermore, the expansion of networks should be based not on population figures, Houben added, because it will lead to white spots "again and again".
Oliver Krischer, vice head of the Green party in the German Parliament, also considers the high bids problematic, as it could lead to higher 5G tariffs for end-users as well as slower mobile network expansion for 5G and LTE.
Christoph Heil of the trade union Ver.di said that "every euro that remains in the industry is important". He added that the operators could be forced to borrow more than planned or bring external investors on board because of the high costs sustained by the auction. Thus, it would increase the pressure on the telecommunication industry to make profits fast through 5G at the expense of employees.
