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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 (29023)	11/18/2002 7:37:19 AM
From: foundation	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 197239

Orange to be Squeezed Out of Sweden? (18/11/2002, BWCS Staff) It appears increasingly likely that Orange will hand back its 3G licence in Sweden. According to recent press reports, the France Telecom-owned mobile operator may decide it will never attract enough customers in the saturated Swedish market to make continued investment worthwhile. Orange itself has denied the stories. The company has already spent some €87 million on its Swedish network and is understood to have pledged at least €104 million in guarantees to 3G Infrastructure Services AB – the joint venture it set up with Europolitan and Hi3G to provide 3G network coverage for rural Sweden. Orange’s current problems date back to the award of the licences in Sweden. Whilst the government did not charge high licence fees when it sold off four franchises in December 2000, it did set stringent network rollout conditions. Despite the licence-winners best endeavours to have the deadlines for the infrastructure build delayed, the government has largely refused to compromise. According to the terms of the licences, the successful companies must cover the entire Swedish population by the end of 2003. As a result, some analysts believe that the heavily-indebted France Telecom may prefer to cut its losses and withdraw its offspring from the market. Orange, however, has at least one more shot in its locker; should the Swedish telecoms regulator decide to grant Europolitan an extension to its network rollout schedule then the French-owned operator may well stay in the game. If not, it could decide to hand back its Swedish 3G licence early next year. bwcs.com