Swedish authority says could ease 3G demands
Reuters, Aug 16 2002
STOCKHOLM, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Sweden could ease requirements on owners of third-generation (3G) mobile licences, the country's top telecoms official was quoted as saying on Friday.
"Theoretically speaking, there is a possibility to decrease the demands," Director-General Nils Gunnar Billinger at the Swedish National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) said in an interview published in Friday's Svenska Dagbladet daily.
Billinger's comments come 10 days after mobile phone operator Orange SA, a subsidiary of France Telecom <FTE.PA>, said it wanted to postpone the roll-out of its 3G network in Sweden until the end of 2006 and decrease coverage somewhat.
Orange won one of four Swedish 3G licences on offer in December 2000.
Under the Swedish beauty contest, the bidders did not need to pay for the licences, unlike in larger markets such as Britain and Germany, but had to commit to a strict roll-out timetable -- operational by end-2003 -- and coverage for all of Sweden's 8.9 million people.
Svenska Dagbladet said PTS would start discussing Orange's request on Friday and would be ready with a reply in October.
"We have received a thorough and serious request," Billinger told the paper. "Now we must, in a serious manner, see whether there is justification for the wishes Orange has presented."
He said legislation made it possible, in theory, to change the conditions of 3G licence allotment in a way that was favourable for the licence holder, but added he did not know whether such changes could be made in practice.
Orange's request followed previous announcements of withdrawal from 3G projects by other European telecoms operators, many of which are heavily indebted after spending heavily on acquiring the licences.
Spain's Telefonica <TEF.MC> announced a freeze on its non-Spanish European mobile operations on July 24. A day later it said the suspension of its 3G mobile ventures in Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Germany would save it 2.4 billion euros between 2002 and 2005.
Finland's Sonera <SRA1V.HE> won a German 3G licence in 2000 in an auction along with partner Telefonica, spending 3.6 billion euros for its 43 percent stake.
But on July 25 Sonera wrote off its entire 3G investments in Germany due to the sharp downturn in market conditions and took a 4.3 billion euros writedown for all its 3G stakes in Europe.
And on Thursday Britain's Vodafone <VOD.L> said it had won a month-long extension of an Irish 3G licence fee deadline, raising the prospect that the top mobile firm in Ireland may not adopt the new technology there.
News of scaled back 3G plans has hurt shares in telecoms equipment makers such as Sweden's Ericsson <ERICb.ST>, the market leader in mobile networks.
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