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To: Eric L who wrote (11753)	5/21/2001 8:46:02 AM
From: Eric L	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34857

re: 3G in France >> 3G Auction In France To Go Ahead Even With Only Two Bidders May 21, 2001 3G Newsroom French Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday, France will go ahead with the selling of four 3G licenses even if only two bidders have shown interested and the unsold two licenses will be offered at later stage. The French government only received two bidders for the four 3G licenses in February from France Telecom and SFR. Fabius suggested the government might consider offering the unsold licenses at later stage for a lower price. At the interviewed, he cannot see anyone be interested at the last two 3G licenses even if price reduction was on offered, referring to the market condition and mounting debt scared on the mobile operators. 6th Feb 01: French government said it may lower the prices of UMTS licences in a second round, which now seems necessary since only two parties applied for a licence on the deadline of January 31st. Several parties have now shown renewed interest. 4th Feb 01: The German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom is still interested in acquiring a licence for UMTS phones in France, the company's head, Ron Sommer, said. 2nd Feb 01: Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. may reconsider bidding for a third generation telecommunications license in France if bid conditions become more favorable, Managing Director Canning Fok said Friday. 2nd Feb 01: The French Finance Ministry said Thursday that it expects to have awarded two third-generation mobile phone licenses by the end of March. 1st Feb 01: The French government on Wednesday said it would hold a second round of its contest for third generation mobile phone licences, after ART, the telecommunications regulator, received only two bids for the four licences it was offering through a beauty contest. Second round postponed until May 2002 earliest 30th Jan 01: Bouygues , the parent company of French wireless service Bouygues Telecom, said on Tuesday it had decided not to enter a bid for one of the four French 3G licences. 24th Jan 01: Telefonica and Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux have withdrawn from the French UMTS license contest, cutting the number of bidders down to just three. It leaves only the three incumbent operators pursuing four licenses. Facts License Date: first quarter 01, Beauty contest & fixed fee. Fixed fee of US$47.5 million per license. The 3G licenses will be awarded July 2001. First round attracted only two bidders: France Telecom and SFR. S&P Profitability Rating: Very Good << - Eric -

To: Eric L who wrote (11753)	5/21/2001 12:55:36 PM
From: S100	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 34857

<Fun to be an early adopter> Perhaps more fun here, WiLL is CDMA I think. MTNL plans to offer new cell tariff packages PTI New Delhi, May 20, 15:09 ithin months of launching cellular services at significantly lower rates than private operators, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is planning to come out with 'introductory' tariff packages to meet individual customer requirements. "A variety of introductory tariff packages are on the anvil to meet individual customer requirements in the cellular market. We shall approach the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) soon with the proposal," Narinder Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director of MTNL said. Asked about the new packages, Sharma said various combinations of rentals along with incentives were being worked out, but declined to give details saying MTNL would first seek Trai's approval on the matter. On the quality of network, Sharma said the corporation had fixed June 30 as deadline to complete the optimisation of the cellular network to take the private operators head-on, especially in terms of quality of services. Stating that MTNL was in the process of finalising the agreements with various cellular players, national and international players, and it would start offering roaming facilities by month end. MTNL has so far installed 102 base stations in Delhi and 122 in Bombay, Sharma said while pointing out that the first bill to Dolphin subscribers would be issued within a week. MTNL had started cellular services in February this year at lower rates of Rs 1.50 for an incoming call and Rs 2.70 for an outgoing call with a monthly rental of Rs 400. Asked about MTNL's plans to launch cash cards for cellular services, Sharma said it would take another three months to make the system compatible and finalise the tariff plan. Sharma said MTNL was planning to invest Rs 1,600 crore during the current financial year for expanding its operations in the country and abroad and added that it would soon adopt new revenue streams by entering into services like call centre, web farms and video on demand. The entire investment is likely to be generated through internal accruals, Sharma added. He said the corporation would add 4.8 lakh new switching lines during 2001-02 as part of expansion plans. thebizpapertoday.com