TOKYO-NTT DoCoMo announced it entered arrangements with Hutchison Whampoa and KPN Mobile to cooperate on European third-generation mobile networks. The agreements cover four European markets-the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Belgium.
The announcement comes as U.S. mobile-phone carriers begin to express concern about being competitive in the 3G mobile phone global market. At issue is the pace of the Clinton administration’s implementation of 3G spectrum decisions made at the World Radiocommunication Conference 2000 in Istanbul, Turkey, in June.
In the United Kingdom, DoCoMo will acquire a 20-percent stake for $1.8 billion and KPN Mobile will acquire a 15-percent stake for $1.4 billion in Hutchsion’s 3G UK Holdings Ltd., which includes the U.K. 3G license it acquired with Canada’s Telesystems International Wireless at auction in May. Hutchison and TIW paid $6.6 billion for the 3G license in April.
In Germany, Hutchison and KPN Mobile will form a new consortium, to be named E-Plus-Hutchison, to bid for a 3G license in the country’s upcoming auction. If successful, the companies will jointly build a 3G network, but develop competing services using the core network.
In France, the trio said it plans to work together to participate in the French 3G license award process, with discussions with potential partners under way.
Hutchison and KPN Mobile will bid for a Belgium 3G license through a joint bidding consortium. The companies also said they will cooperate in joint research and development projects, procurement of infrastructure equipment and handsets, roaming, and multimedia and wireless Internet ventures.
In related European 3G news, at press time the Dutch 3G auction was under way with six bidders competing for five licenses. KPN Mobile, Libertel, Telfort, Dutchtone, Ben and VersaTel were in the running, with the highest bids at about $60 million.
In the United States, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association petitioned the Federal Communications Commission last week to start a rulemaking to implement 3G spectrum allocations adopted at WRC-2000.
A big problem is that two of the three bands earmarked for 3G-1710 MHz-1885 MHz and 2500 MHz-2690 MHz-are occupied in the United States by U.S. military users and on the civilian side by education, religious and commercial broadband fixed-wireless users, big and small.
The other frequency band allocated worldwide for 3G-698 MHz-960 MHz-appears clear for Internet-ready mobile-phone communications.
The availability of the 1710 MHz-1885 MHz and 2500 MHz-2690 MHz bands for 3G are contingent on U.S. government studies that will ascertain interference and sharing potential.
