Swedes Ready to Talk Delays

date: May 30, 2002 - source: BWCS

The Swedish telecoms regulator, the Post and Telecoms authority (PTS), once one of the hard-line proponents of forcing early 3G deadlines on licence holders, has said it is open to discussions concerning the current strict timetable. The statement comes in the wake of several announcements by other countries that deadlines, and in France’s case, even licence fees, will be relaxed.

Under the original terms, the Swedish licence winners were expected to provide national coverage by the end of 2003. The operators now believe that a lack of sufficient dual-mode handsets will mean that it is unlikely that consumer demand for 3G services will be sufficient to justify such a swift roll out.

The PTS, while saying it is open for discussion, has been at pains to point out that any talks will include all interested parties and not merely the hard-pressed 3G licence owners. For example, the PTS would expect to hear representations from rural communities who may feel cheated if national coverage is no longer made a priority.

The quartet of licence owners in Sweden are: Vodafone, Orange, Hutchison’s Hi3G consortium and Tele2. Sweden became the first country not to award a 3G licence to its incumbent operator when Telia’s bid was turned down in the national beauty contest two years ago.

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