OSLO, Norway-The Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the winners of the country’s four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses, which were awarded through a beauty contest. The license winners are Broadband Mobile, an Enitel ASA and Sonera Corp. consortium; incumbent operator NetCom GSM, owned 19.5 percent by SBC Communications Inc.; Tele2 Norge AS; and mobile market leader Telenor ASA.
Each license winner is required to pay a lump sum of $10.78 million for the license, along with an annual frequency charge of $2.2 million. In addition, operators are required to pay an annual standard fee, a telecommunications provider fee and frequency management fees. Added together, the price tag is much less than in countries that have auctioned UMTS licenses.
Sweden’s Telia, which owns NetCom, released a statement saying the license award would further its UMTS Nordic strategy. Telia also holds a UMTS license in Finland and has applied for a license in Sweden, where it is the mobile market leader.
“Our Norwegian UMTS strategy is offensive with broad coverage and fast build-up,” said Kenneth Karlberg, senior executive vice president of Telia.
Seven groups applied for one of the four licenses, which were awarded based on geographical coverage and rollout, the ministry said. Orange Norge AS, a consortium headed by Orange plc; BusinessNet AS, a consortium that included Western Wireless International; and a consortium of Scandinavian companies did not receive licenses.
Sweden will be the next European country to award UMTS licenses. The winners of that country’s beauty contest are scheduled to be announced Dec. 16.
