Belgium accepts three bids for new mobile phone licenses

date: 17th February 2001

The Belgian government said Friday it has accepted the bids of three companies for the third generation mobile phone licenses, though it had hoped the auction would attract further bidders.

The three companies, Belgacom Mobile, France Telecom unit Mobistar and KPN Mobile 3G Belgium -- which already compete in second-generation mobile services -- will all take part in the auction, which analysts say would likely not be as lucrative as other auctions in Europe last year.

They suspect Belgium is taking a hit from would-be operators who have already paid high prices for third-generation licences in bigger, more promising markets.

The auction is to take place some time before March 7, the government added.

The government's telecoms regulator IBPT is currently studying what to do with the fourth UMTS, or Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, license that will be available.

The Belgian government, struck by the big windfalls reaped at other UMTS auctions in Europe, had been hoping to raise as much as 60 billion Belgian francs (1.49 billion euros, 1.36 billion dollars) from its license sale.

The money raised will go towards paying off the state's public debt and towards creating an additional pension fund for people retiring between 2010 and 2030.

But the buy-in price for one license starts at 150 million euros, unless the government decides to raise the minimum price at which the auction would begin.

With the exception of multi-billion dollar UMTS auctions in Germany and Britain last year, the sales of the new licenses has been a virtual failure across Europe.

UMTS will offer high-speed Internet access via mobile phones, and is expected to debut in 2003.

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