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To: Sawtooth who wrote (22981)	2/16/1999 9:57:00 PM
From: Mark Fleming	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 152472

From Wired wired.com Finn Phone Firm's First Choice Reuters 3:00 a.m. 16.Feb.99.PST HELSINKI, Finland -- A Finnish Internet operator on Monday applied for a third-generation mobile telephone license based on US technology, turning a domestic licensing decision into one with global implications. Saunalahden Serveri, a closely held independent Internet operator, said its subsidiary Clari Net was seeking a nationwide CDMA 2000 license, a US phone standard developed by Qualcomm. The application is important for US equipment makers since Finland -- Nokia's home country -- will be the first in Europe to choose third-generation mobile technologies, and its decisions are likely to be followed on both sides of the Atlantic. The parent company also applied for rival European technology, so that the group would have a chance to win a home-market presence in either technology. "Our view about the third-generation is that data will be important," Saunalahden Serveri's managing director Harri Johannesdahl told Reuters. "If we were to be confined to fixed lines only, we would lose." Twelve other applicants sought concessions to build third-generation networks using wideband CDMA, or code division multiple access, which has been endorsed by the European Telecommunications Standardization Institute. A senior official at the Ministry of Communications said Finland had an open mind about the technologies and could accept both, although it may mean that fewer than the intended four licenses could be granted. "If a system is good, we will give a license. We are not setting trade policies," said Harri Pursiainen, the head of the ministry's communications department. "We are not giving anything to the industry. What we will be doing is to give users a good technology." If both technologies were to be used side by side, some frequencies would have to be excluded to prevent interference, and that could mean that only three licenses could be granted. "But it is possible that four could be granted regardless," Pursiainen said, adding that the ministry did not yet know how two technologies would work side by side. Saunalahden Serveri, which is far too small to build a mobile-phone network by itself, said it was confident that it would find financing if its application went through. "We would seek financing from equipment makers, banks, risk-capital investors, and content providers -- and ourselves, of course," Johannesdahl said. Vodafone and Telenordia, which is owned by British Telecom, Tele Danmark, and Telenor, withdrew from the race for a third-generation license. Finland said it would make its decision on the issue early this year.