FRANKFURT, June 18 (Reuters) - Bids in Germany's auction ofradio frequencies for mobile phone network operators havesurpassed 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion), the telecoms regulatorsaid on Thursday.
Analysts had expected the auction to raise only a maximum of4 to 5 billion euros, still a far cry from the 50.8 billioneuros the government raised in the auction in 2000 for new 3Gnetwork licences, when there were six groups bidding.($1 = 0.8770 euros) (Reporting by Peter Maushagen; Writing by Edward Taylor;Editing by Georgina Prodhan)