Swiss 3G auction to resume

date: 02 December 2000, source: FT.com

The Swiss government has decided to proceed with its UMTS mobile licence auction after finding that a move by Tele Danmark to take control of two of the Swiss bidders would not harm market competition.

The auction was postponed in mid-November after the number of bidders had earlier fallen from nine to five, followed by Tele Danmark's plans, which would have left just four bidders for the four licences. The Swiss government immediately postponed the auction pending an investigation into collusion.

But late on Thursday, the Swiss telecoms regulator said it would go ahead with the auction on December 6.

It said it had found no evidence that the plan by Tele Danmark to increase its ownership in Sunrise - a fixed telecom and internet operator in the Swiss market - from 44 per cent to 89 per cent and to acquire 70 per cent of DiAx, a Swiss mobile and landline operator, and merge it with Sunrise, would impede UMTS market competition.

It added that it had found no evidence of illegal agreements between any of the original bidders. British Telecommunications was among those who had exited earlier.

The terms of the auction would proceed according to the rules laid out in August, including an unchanged minimum bid of SFr50m for each of the licences, the government said.

The four companies now bidding for the licences are Swisscom, Orange Communications, the subsidiary of France Telecom, Telefonica and the Sunrise/DiAx partnership.

Auctions in Italy, Austria and the Netherlands ended early because of consolidation by bidders, prompting regulators to investigate claims of possible collusion.

The news lifted Swisscom shares by 3 per cent to SFr427.5 in afternoon trade on Friday as investors welcomed the possibility that the company would not have to pay a large sum to secure a licence.

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