French may re-run 3G license auction again

date: May 30, 2001

There is mounting speculation that the French Finance Ministry may order the auction regulator French Telecommunications Regulator-ART to re-run the beauty contest again that only attracted two bidders of the four available French 3G licence, when the assembly results tomorrow.

The contest, which began in 1st January, evaluated applications for 3G licences on the basis of 14 criteria, scoring candidates out of a possible total of 500 points. At present only France Telecom and SFR (Vivendi) are still committed to paying the total £3billion each for the licences. Home operator Bouygues failed to meet the criteria and Deutsche Telekom and Suez-Telefonica withdrew after the French government was not ruling out a price reduction.

If the two remaining licences are just given away, France Telecom and SFR will demand all its money back. However if the whole thing is re-run, France will lag behind its EU partners and possibly fall foul of EU requirements that all 3G licences are awarded by next January.

Top Sellers at our online store

1.	NEC e606 on 3
2.	Orange Nokia 7250i
3.	O2 Samsung A800
4.	NEC e808 on 3
5.	Motorola A920 on 3

last updated: January 12, 2004

Visit our online store, click here

3 phones

3G Motorola A920
Available Now! Superb full colour touch- sensitive screen with a built-in digital camera for Video Calling.
Buy now from Free

M-Profits: Making Money from 3G Services
ISBN: 0470847751

This book discusses 3G services from the view of what is needed for the service to provide value to the user, what is the value proposition for the user, how will money be made out of delivering the service, and discussions on how revenue sharing propositions might work to benefit content providers and network operators. 3G operators should take note of this highly recommended book.

buy it UK | USA

3G Books to Read!

top