for- mation about HSPA and HSPA+, see Chapter 7. The major factor holding back implementations of LTE by additional carriers is the shortage of suitable spectrum. There are countries that have committed to holding auctions. France and Germany held 3G and 4G auctions in 2011. Some countries have committed to making these auctions technology-neutral by allowing carriers a choice of the type of mobile service to offer on the spectrum they win at auction. The following is a partial list of carriers that currently offer LTE in Europe: TeliaSonera in Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark Telenor in Sweden Tele2 in Sweden MTS in Uzbekistan UCell in Uzbekistan T-Mobile in Austria and Germany Mobyland in collaboration with CenterNet in Poland In addition to the aforementioned implementations of LTE, trials such as Tele- fónica's O 2 German subsidiary and Turkcell's in Turkey are being conducted. Besides spectrum shortages in some networks, 3G equipment is not fully depreciated. Thus, if these carriers implement a new technology, they will still have the expense of updating older equipment, which will lower their net profits. Interestingly, in the Scandinavian countries, which have the highest concentration of LTE service, the number of fixed-broadband connections has shown no growth or a small decrease. Some subscribers, particularly young people who don't own homes, are substituting LTE service for fixed-broadband service. In the future, as capacities in 4G networks increase, this trend might result in more people substituting mobile service for fixed broadband. The Role of the European Union The European Union (EU), an economic and political union of 27 European countries, was formed to develop a common market through the standardization of monetary systems, external tariffs for countries outside of the Union, and the free movement of people and goods within the EU countries. Currently, people in EU countries can travel Mobile Carriers Worldwide to other European countries without a passport. Not all member coun