French Gov to Relax Payment Terms

date: October 17, 2001

France on Tuesday sweetened considerably its UMTS mobile phone licence terms to appease struggling telecoms operators and attract new bidders, extending the licence to 20 years from 15 and slashing initial fees.

Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said licence winners -- who had been due to pay half of a 4.95 billion euro fee in the first two years and the rest thereafter -- would now pay just an eighth (619 million euros) in year one, with future payments to be based on the revenues operators reap from UMTS services.

While the final fee over 20 years should still be close to the fee initially fixed, the move divides by four what operators must shell out in the first two years -- a time when investments in UMTS infrastructure will likely run to billions of euros.

The move will leave a hole in government coffers in the short term. UMTS fees were earmarked to top up state pension funds.

Existing licence holders, France Telecom and Vivendi Universal, will pay the initial fee by the end of 2001, as already planned, but future winners of the two outstanding licences will pay the 619 million euros in 2002.

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