MILAN (WiMAX Day). The Ministry of Communications in Italy announced that 48 companies have expressed interest in the auction for 3.5 GHz WiMAX spectrum in January 2008. Communications minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Monday that these first bids will be reviewed over the next six weeks. Amongst those who delivered proposals to the ministry include BT Italia, Telecom Italia, Wind and FastWeb. Vodafone and Hutchison 3G did not make an offer, nor did the Italian TV broadcaster RAI. An offer also was made by the broadcaster Mediaset, through Elettronica Industriale, which owns all the TV infrastructutre in Italy. Mediaset is the company controlled by the former Italian prime minister Berlusconi. It is expected that the spectrum auction will generate as much as EUR 200 million for the Italian government.