German regulator says WCDMA to be a success...............in 10 years when it will have "become something." PPfffffft.
Matthias Kurth, president of Germany's post and telecommunications watchdog RegTP, said he is sure UMTS will be a success in 10 years, despite the current difficulties of telecoms companies.
"I am convinced that in 10 years UMTS will have become something," Kurth remarked in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
Kurth noted the German UMTS licences, which cost bidders a total of 100 bln dm in 2000, will last for some 20 years.
"It will also be possible to earn the investment back in the years 19 and 20," he said.
But Kurth admitted the prices paid for the licences in the German UMTS auction "were with retrospect exorbitant", as the high-tech boom caused "exaggerated expectations".
Telecom companies accross Europe, most notably Deutsche Telekom AG and France Telecom are currently labouring with the massive debt piles and low class credit ratings inflicted by the cost of the UMTS licence auctions in Europe.
Kurth also made clear Germany has no intention of changing the terms of its UMTS licences, despite adaptations elsewhere in Europe.
But he indicated that if a licence holder fails to fulfill its conditions, the lost licence could be auctioned off to the remaining licence holders.
stuart.williams@afxnews.com
sjw/vs
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