Germany on Wednesday started an auction of frequencies for mobile phone operators, pledging that users will soon enjoy nationwide super-fast 4G coverage without "black holes" in rural areas. The government hopes in coming weeks to raise billions of euros as it sells off the frequencies to the three big providers, Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica Deutschland and Vodafone. It has pledged to use the money to build up the network of fast broadband Internet connections, which Chancellor Angela Merkel has pledged to extend nationwide by 2018.



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