France
France released details of its plan to award four 3G wireless phone licenses based on a beauty contest. Bidders, given a 31 January, 2001, deadline to submit proposals, will be judged on the strength of their business plans, before being selected to pay US$4.5 billion for each license. Half the amount will be due in 2001 and 2002, with the rest due during a 13-year period.
Germany
Six groups walked away with UMTS licenses in Germany at a total cost of $45.85 billion, the largest amount raised yet in a 3G spectrum auction. Each of the winners-Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobil, Vodafone Group’s Mannesmann Mobilfunk, KPN-backed E-Plus, British Telecommunications’ Viag Interkom, France Telecom-backed MobilCom and the long-shot Group 3G consortium comprised of Telefonica and Sonera-will get 2 by 10 megahertz of spectrum. Each group won two of the 12 available 2 by 5 megahertz blocks of spectrum auctioned. Press reports said T-Mobil and Mannesmann each were a day late with their first payments to the German government for the licenses.
Ireland
Ireland’s telecom regulator said it will award UMTS licenses through a comparative selection process instead of an auction. In addition, the regulator indicated it favors issuing four licenses, including one reserved for a new entrant.
Italy
Seven of eight groups that applied for one of five Italian UMTS licenses were approved to participate. The country’s four incumbent operators, Blue, Omnitel Pronto Italia, Telecom Italia Mobile and Wind Telecomunicazion, are participating. Three additional consortia announced their intentions to enter the Italian market. They include Andala, backed by Hutchison; Ispe, including Telefonica and Sonera; and a consortium including TLC Utilities. The Italian auction is scheduled to begin in October, with initial bidding prices for each 2 by 10 megahertz of paired spectrum and 5 megahertz of unpaired spectrum starting at US$1.8 billion.
The Netherlands
Versatel Telecom ceased bidding in the Dutch UMTS auction, ending the award process of five licenses. The bids at the end of 305 rounds on 24 July totaled about US$2.5 billion. Libertel, KPN Mobile, Dutchtone Multimedia, Telfort and 3G Blue, a consortium that includes operator Ben and Deutsche Telekom, won licenses.
Norway
Seven groups plan to participate in Norway’s beauty contest to award four UMTS licenses. The licenses will be awarded by the end of October.
Slovenia
Officials from the Slovenian Post and Telecommunications Authority said the government is planning a call for UMTS tenders within the fourth quarter of this year. Three licenses are planned to be awarded, and the procedure will be performed in three steps. The government will establish bidder qualifications. If more than three bidders participate, a beauty contest will name the four best contenders. An auction among the selected four bidders will grant three UMTS licenses to the highest bidders. The total amount received for the three licenses will be around US$32.1 million, with a minimum fee for each license of US$10.7 million.
Slovenia has reserved the 1900 MHz to 1980 MHz, 2010 MHz to 2025 MHz, and 2110 MHz to 2170 frequency bands for the UMTS licenses. The licenses will be granted for a 15-year period with the possibility of a 10-year extension.
Spain
Having awarded its third-generation (3G) spectrum for 500 million euros (US$448 million) in April, the Spanish government is considering a levy on 3G mobile operators. The government awarded four 3G licenses, via a tender that judged bidders on technical merit rather than the size of their cash bids. Insiders say officials are now working on ways of recouping some of the lost income, with the most likely option being to increase the yearly levy paid by mobile operators, which currently stands at 0.15 percent of gross revenues. Other options considered include offering one or two more 3G licenses for cash.
Sweden
Ten groups applied for one of four UMTS licenses in Sweden, which will be awarded by a two-phased beauty contest. The groups include the country’s three incumbents Telia, Comviq and Europolitan, along with consortia that include Orange, Deutsche Telekom, Hutchison, and Telef
