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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: foundation who wrote (24986)	7/26/2002 9:06:11 AM
From: foundation	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197036

Worthless £5bn 3G licence junked by holders Friday 26th July 2002 10:50am Not worth the paper it was written on... European telcos braced themselves this morning as news emerged that Finland's Sonera and Spain's Telefonica had written off their joint 3G investment in Germany as worthless. The future's not so brightButsurely there is some hope? The companies had spent E8.4bn on acquiring a licence as part of Group 3, one of the six licence holders in Germany, but now acknowledge the investment is unlikely to bear fruit. Two years after bidding for the licence the companies have suspended their involvement in the joint venture's activities in Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Telefonica said Europe's 3G technology was not inexpensive or stable enough to compete with existing technologies. Operators reacted quickly to the news. Dutch KPN said it was looking increasingly unlikely it would make the predicted E750m in savings it had hoped for by joining forces with Telefonica to build its German 3G network. Ericsson and Nortel have also been left out in the cold. The telecom equipment makers now face uncertainty over a E600m contract signed in April to build the German network. Both companies had counted on the deal to shore up flagging revenues. However, analysts welcomed the news, claiming the expected shakeout means a reduction in competition and more customers for the incumbent operators. Group 3's withdrawal now leaves Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile and Vodafone with an 80 per cent share of the market. silicon.com