PTS recall Orange's 3G license

November 21, 2004

It has been reported that Sweden's National Post and Telecom Agency, PTS, has decided to recall Orange's 3G licence and make the frequency space available for rival operators.

PTS official Urban Landmark told AFX News that the PTS withdraw Orange's 3G licence on the request of the company.

"They requested us to withdraw the license a couple of weeks ago," Landmark was quoted as saying.

The frequency space could be awarded to a new operator or one or several of the existing operators.

"With the licence now withdrawn, the field is wide open for other operators that want to use it for UMTS," Landmark said, reported news agency Direkt.

The Swedish telecoms regulator said that by March of this year the four, Hi3G Access AB, Svenska UMTS-licens AB, Vodafone and Orange SA, had between them rolled out just 65 to 75 percent of the network infrastructure they had promised would be in place by the end of last year.