Telecel, P. Telecom, EDP, Sonae Win UMTS Licenses in Portugal

date: 19th December 2000, source: Bloomberg

Telecel-Comunicacoes Pessoais, Portugal Telecom SA, Sonae.com SGPS's Optimus and EDP- Electricidade de Portugal SA's Oni Way won licenses to offer high- speed mobile-phone services, Portugal's Public Works Minister Jorge Coelho said at a press conference.

The list of winners in the government's ``beauty contest'' matched the preliminary ranking of Portugal's Communication Institute, or ICP, the market regulator.

Portugal will charge about 100 million euros ($87.7 million) for each of the four licenses. Seven companies or groups of companies submitted their proposals in the so-called beauty contest. The government chose the winners based on criteria such as proposed prices and coverage.

The ICP last month said Telecel, the country's No. 2 mobile- phone company, which is 51 percent owned by Vodafone Group Plc, had the best proposal. Telecel scored 15.84 points, or 0.14 points more than second-ranked Portugal Telecom's TMN unit.

Oni Way, a partnership led by EDP, Portugal's largest power company, is the only winner not to already have a mobile-phone service. Sonae.com's Optimus service, Portugal's newest and fastest-growing mobile-phone company, has been operating for two years.

Other contestants who failed to get a license include France's Vivendi SA and Spain's Jazztel Plc.

The winners of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses will be able to offer high-speed Internet access, music and video on mobile phones to Portugal's 10 million people, half of whom already have cellular phones.

top