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To: rkral who wrote (118651)	5/11/2002 12:12:26 PM
From: samim anbarcioglu	Respond to of 152472

<<I might even try to sue my government for a reduction in auction prices.>> They did.. I remember the case in england. The government had a very short response: forget it..

To: rkral who wrote (118651)	5/11/2002 12:48:26 PM
From: John Biddle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

I hate seeing the Euro carriers (and others) getting screwed! So what you're saying is that it's a problem that the carriers bought at the top and now that the perceived value has dropped precipitously the governments (sellers) should help make the carriers whole. Have you used this fairness theory to sue Qualcomm because you bought their shares and they went down? Would you be screaming for the carriers to double up their payments if the value of the spectrum had gone up? Do you believe people are responsible for their actions? The government picked the premature auction date. What was the carrier supposed to do? Not bid, and be frozen out of the spectrum? Yes, that is exactly what the companies should have done if they believed that the purchase was a bad investment and was going to become worth dramatically less a year or two later. And if they thought that, that's probably what they would have done. But they didn't! They thought they were getting a bargain. Remember, THEY bid up the price, not the government. I know none of this would be successful, and most likely has no legal standing. Because it's a stupid idea! You are essentially saying that other people should be responsible for fixing your mistakes. Even the Euros can't abide that one. I rarely rant .. but Apparently that's a good thing.

To: rkral who wrote (118651)	5/11/2002 1:00:52 PM
From: Peter J Hudson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

Ron, I don't understand your concern for the carriers. It's a buyer beware situation. They weren't compelled to bid on the spectrum. If they made their business decision to bid based on manufacturers promise of 3G hardware they should have structured huge penalty clauses in their infra contracts. The governments were being pressured to hold auctions, if there was no demand the auctions would have been postponed. The folks making those huge bets on spectrum had the responsibility to verify the business case. There was plenty of evidence that problems existed with the proposed UMTS standard. I. J. has been expressing concern about delays in WCDMA since the family of standards was adopted. It's fine to be sympathetic when companies or individuals make bad business decisions, but the blame rests with the decision makers. Pete

To: rkral who wrote (118651)	5/11/2002 1:58:16 PM
From: Jack Bridges	Respond to of 152472

The Euro governments auctioned spectrum after the cabal and its victim-carriers hammered on the desirability to conserve jobs for Europe. MSFT and INTC were the bad guys, and QCOM posed a new threat, especially to the hero status of NOK and ERICY. All parties were amazed when BT and VOD went bonkers at the first auction, setting the stage for others. Governments salivated at this bonanza source of funding for their social goals. The carriers were initially as euphoric as the governments, and must not then have realized that they were being sold a bill of goods by those who had enabled their glory days of a functioning GSM monopoly. In any event, the money has been long since spent, and carriers have no chance of a bail-out. The mystery to me is why Ghent, after the success of VOD's overlay trials at Newbury with QCOM in 1998, was the most avid bidder of them all.

To: rkral who wrote (118651)	5/11/2002 6:59:35 PM
From: techlvr	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

In addition to Engineer's insight, which sounds very possible, don't forget that if they can persuade everyone to go to GPRS, then EDGE, and finally WCDMA (or even 1X for that matter), the manufacturers and carriers get to sell 3X as many phones. A type of hidden planned obsolescence, forcing the users to upgrade phones with each network upgrade. Actually sounds like a brilliant strategy to me, for them that is.