BT and One2One Lost Payment Battle

date: October 17, 2001

The Appeal Court in the UK has ruled against BT and One 2 One in their battle with the government over payments for their WCDMA 3G mobile phone licences.

The two firms had argued that the government acted unfairly in giving rivals Vodafone Group and Orange extra time to come up with a combined £10 billion to pay for their licences, bought in an auction last year.

Lord Philips said the way the matter was handled had not given Vodafone and Orange an unfair advantage which could be said to amount to unlawful state aid.

"Any difference of treatment that had occurred was objectively justified," he said. "The conduct of the Secretary of State was not unfair, irrational or unreasonable in any way."

The two firms were given longer to pay because Vodafone was in the process of selling Orange as part of its takeover of Germany's Mannesmann, and UK auction rules prevented one company from owning two licences.

BT and One 2 One claimed that the 180-day extension effectively cost them £85 million each in lost interest.

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