Qualcomm and Teleepoch
Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October
6, 2007
MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband
Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6,
2007
Brazilian government to
publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007
KTF 3G service suffers
from technical problems, October 6, 2007
Argentina’s Personal
lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007
Russia has it's first 3G
network, October 6, 2007
AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent
as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007
Enea Extends License Agreement
with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007
LG to unveil premium handsets
in Brazil, October 2, 2007
KTF 3G subscribers doubled
in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007
3G policy in India will
be non-uniform, October 2, 2007
- previous news
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EC approves 3G mobile network sharing in the UK
April 30, 2003
According to the decision taken today, site sharing in itself does not
raise competition concerns. The Commission' investigation has furthermore
revealed that national roaming between licensed network operators benefits
consumers by allowing the operators involved to offer better and quicker
coverage, especially in less built-up and more remote areas of the UK.
Site sharing helps the launch of 3G services. Roaming will not include
the top ten cities in the UK but be limited to smaller cities and rural
areas. National roaming in smaller cities can benefit from an exemption
form the antitrust rules until 31 December 2007 for rural areas the exemption
expires on 31 December 2008.
Commenting on the case, Competition Commissioner Mario Monti said: "This
decision strikes the right balance between infrastructure competition
in 3G markets and the immediate consumer benefit of having faster and
wider roll-out of advanced 3G services. It gives guidance to mobile operators
on the extent of co-operation that it permissible at this important juncture
for the roll-out of 3G services across the EU".
The decision
T-Mobile and mmO2 entered into agreements to share 3G site infrastructure
and to roam on their 3G networks in the UK and Germany. In February 2002
the parties asked the Commission for clearance or, alternatively, an exemption
of their agreements under the antitrust rules.
The Commission's investigation revealed that the agreement on site sharing
does not restrict competition. The agreement on national roaming can be
exempted from the competition rules for a period until 31 December 2007
for small cities and 31 December 2008 for rural areas.
Site sharing between the companies does not restrict competition because
coverage of the agreement is restricted to sharing basic network infrastructure
such as masts, power supply, racking and cooling. It also widely promoted
for environmental and health reasons as a matter of public policy at national
and EU level.
National roaming between the network providers does - on the one hand
- limit network-based competition with respect to coverage, retail prices,
quality and transmission speeds, but, - on the other hand it does promote
market entry which leads to better and quicker 3G service coverage.
Coverage will be accelerated in rural areas. National roaming in rural
areas of the UK is therefore exempted from the antitrust rules until 31
December 2008.
In some circumstances, national roaming can even be beneficial in urban
areas, as long as it is limited to a short start-up period and helps new
and innovative 3G services to be available earlier to customers. Therefore
roaming in urban areas is exempted from the antitrust rules until 31 December
2007 especially since the companies will only roam in a number of smaller
cities covering less than 10% of the UK population and in none of the
ten biggest cities.
Today's decision sets the parameters for a similar decision that is expected
in the near future with respect to the German network sharing agreement
between the same parties.
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3G Motorola A920
