Primus still bidding up and taking over all of Europe! Great potential here, company still undervalued by a long shot.
Bruce Cullen
SherwoodCoastsGroup
sherwoodcoastsgroup.com
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Switzerland Auctions First Local Wireless License (Update1)
By Catherine McLean
Switzerland Auctions First Local Wireless License (Update1)
(Adds detail on auction in first two paragraphs and sixth
paragraph.)
Bern, March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Switzerland's Federal
Communications Commission will auction its first license for local
wireless phone services today, giving Swisscom AG's rivals new
means to challenge the former monopoly's hold on services.
The commission, a regulatory body set up to monitor the
Swiss telecommunications market, is auctioning three national
licenses and five for each of nine regions within the country. The
commission will sell one license each working day until May 16.
The first auction for a national license, conducted over the
Internet, began today.
Wireless technology offers phone operators a way to provide
voice and data services directly into homes and offices while
bypassing the copper wires used by local fixed-line carriers.
Although the Swiss telecommunications market was liberalized in
January 1998, the phone lines connecting households to the local
exchange -- the so-called ``last mile' -- have yet to be opened
to competition.
``From my point of view it's less of a menace (to Swisscom)
than cable connections,' said Alexandre Pasini, an analyst at
Lombard Odier & Cie.
Pasini added that the companies winning the new licenses may
face resistance from the Swiss population to building new
antennas. Companies bidding for wireless local loop licenses,
include Diax AG, MCI WorldCom Inc., EUnet/KPNQwest NV, Mannesmann
ipulsys, Primus Telecommunications Group, Sunrise Communications
AG, United Pan-Europe Communications NV. Swisscom, Switzerland's
largest telecommunications company, will not be participating in
the auction, according to a spokesman for the commission.
Minimum Price
The starting price for today's license was 6.85 million
francs, though it had climbed to 38.4 million francs by 12.07 p.m.
local time, with a bid from FirstMark Communications Switzerland
GmbH.
Wireless networks use point-to-multipoint technology,
allowing a single antenna to send and receive transmissions
carrying voice, data and video information to and from numerous
buildings. Small shoebox-shaped antennae placed on the side of
buildings receive the signals, then route the data through phone
wires already installed inside.
The commission also plans to hold an auction in the third
quarter of 2000, awarding four national licenses for the new so-
called third-generation mobile phone technology, which is due in
2001. That system will be operational in 2002.
Switzerland's Federal Communications Commission has voiced
its support for the liberalization of the ``last mile' which
would require Swisscom to allow rivals to buy or lease access to
phone lines connecting homes to the local exchange.
Swisscom shares fell as much as 17 francs, or 2.5 percent, to
678 on the Swiss Exchange. The shares have gained 5.4 percent this
year, the second-worst performer in the telecommunications sector
in the Bloomberg 500 Index. |
