Michael, see qualcomm.com press releases
"The consortium [Ed: = Ozphone, with Qualcomm as sole owner] has acquired a total of eight 5 MHz licenses in the 800 MHz band in the Brisbane, Perth, Cairns, Mackay, Maryborough, Grafton, Tasmania and Regional West regions, covering 5.4 million POPs. The total cost of the licenses was just under 10 million Australian dollars (approximately US$6.2 million). The results of the auction, which began on April 14, 1998 and ended May 25, 1998, were announced this week by the Australian Communications Authority, Australia's telecommunications regulatory body."
Brisbane has 1 million people, Perth is a real city, I guess about 700,000. The rest are smaller. 5 million people is 25% of Australia, so it is a good start. Qualcomm got a discount today because the Aussie dollar went down some more, reaching 12 year lows against US$.
Quincy, I can't answer what you asked sorry: "Do you have any suspicions what other companies (like Hutchison) who won spectrum in Australia are choosing for their air-air interface? Cellular license holders including Hutchison and AAPT (not familiar with them) could market themselves better against PCS providers (Vodaphone) if they have decent roaming and compatible equipment. B-)"
Maurice@cdmaCellular.co.nz
Provider of cdmaOne to New Zealand = soon I hope!
[unless others bid too much in the auction] |
