Germany to decide 3G network sharing by late May

date: April 27, 2001

Telecoms operators building 3G mobile networks in Germany should receive regulatory guidance by the end of next month on how far they can cooperate to cut costs, an industry source said on Friday.

``The regulator said a decision should be made by the end of May,'' the source told the press.

Six mobile operators each paid around £6.5 billion last March for a 3G licence in Germany. They would like to minimise 3G network costs which could cost them $7 billion.

A spokesman for the RegTP telecoms regulator said the watchdog was considering questions posed by the operators as to what extent they could cooperate within the current legal framework, but would not say when a decision could be expected.

German business daily Handelsblatt on Friday cited several operators as saying they had submitted proposals to the regulator under which they could save as much as 40 percent of network costs.

The operators would be prepared to share antennae as well as towers and agree to share local networks, the paper said.

Under the terms of last year's auction, each licence winner must build its own UMTS network. But it is unclear to what extent operators may cooperate on sharing some infrastructure, such as antennae and towers.

The licence winners hope the UMTS standard, due to become operational in Germany in 2003 or 2004, will open up new revenue streams from speedy mobile Internet, video and CD-quality music services.

Analysts say Germany's top mobile groups have the most to win from last year's high-stakes UMTS auction, because the heavy costs of market entry into Europe's most competitive market will ensure that smaller rivals remain weak.

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