Italy’s Communications Minister Antonio Maccanico was reported in foreign press as saying the country may engage in yet another auction for a fourth mobile phone license, possibly before the end of the year.
Maccanico said the growth rate for the mobile phone industry in Italy is 8 percent and is able to withstand competition from another operator. Italy is an attractive mobile phone market, with more that 13 million subscribers, 5.3 million of which were added last year, and a penetration rate of 21.1 percent.
The proposition already has received interest. Consortia Picienne Italia spa and Telon reportedly are working together to present a joint bid for the license once the tender process begins. Both companies submitted losing bids of their own during the country’s last mobile phone tender, awarded to the Wind consortium in June.
Picienne consists of Italian television broadcaster Mediaset, British Telecom plc and Norwegian operator Telenor. Telon consists of Italian highway company Autostrade spa, Bell Canada and Hong Kong’s Distacom Communications Ltd.
In making the announcement, Gina Nieri, board member of Mediaset, said the possibility of the tender opening this year was especially attractive. Whether the Italian government can in fact open the tender before year’s end is another matter entirely.
The last tender, for Italy’s third mobile phone license, originally was planned to open in the fall of 1996 and have a winner by the end of that year. A series of delays involving political infighting and other barriers resulted in the tender finally opening this May, and that date was met only because the Italian government passed a decree ordering the ministry to commence with the process.
The Wind consortium, led by Italian Electric company and including France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, won the dual-band Global System for Mobile communications 900 MHz license. The winner of the proposed fourth license would join Wind and two incumbent operators: Telecom Italia Mobile and Omnitel, made up of Olivetti and Germany’s Mannesmann.
The communications regulatory agency in Italy must first approve the tender process, amid a deteriorating political situation in Italy. Last week, the communist segment of the coalition held by Italian Premier Romano Prodi threatened to withdraw its support, which would seriously undermine Prodi’s power and could cause the government’s collapse.
Prodi may resign before that happens.
