Sweden is to announce four 3G licence winners

date: 08 November 2000, source: ITU

Sweden is to announce four 3G licence winners by the end of November. The Post and Telecoms Agency have not announced a specific date. Unlike most other national licence allocations Sweden is to use a pure beauty contest with an astoundingly low entry fee for the winners of 100,000 Swedish Krona or EUR11,800 and a 0.15 per cent of annual turnover. This has been done to encourage winners to speedily roll out services. The application criteria include commercial and technical competences, financial backing and geographic spread.

Critics have said that the government has missed a golden opportunity, but 3G Bulletin thinks it is good to see a government that is not hungering for every penny and trying to encourage cheap and effective 3G services. The government has not ruled out conducting an auction at later date, but has to investigate the legalities.

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