Total Licence Price:
$414million

Winners: CosmOTE - a venture of Greece's OTE Telecoms and Norway's Telenor - Panafon, a Vodafone subsidiary, and Telecom Italia's Stet Hellas.

The auction of 3G mobile phone licenses which ended on Thursday and raised $414million.

The successful bidders were the country's three existing mobile operators, CosmOTE - a joint venture between Greece's OTE Telecoms and Norway's Telenor - Panafon, a Vodafone subsidiary, and Telecom Italia's Stet Hellas. Each paid the minimum fee of US$123.9 million.

Companies with 3G licenses will have to pay an up-front payment equal to 70 percent of the price and the remaining 30 percent in three annual installments.

Additionally, they have to hand over 2 percent of their annual turnover from 3G services, with the first payment due in 2005.

Greece has cleared four telecoms groups to take part in its auction of new mobile phone licences. Plans call for the sale of four 3G licences on Wednesday, with the starting price for each licence set at 50bn drachmas ($125m; £89m). The four groups approved to take part include Greece's three existing mobile operators - CosmOTE - a venture of Greece's OTE Telecoms and Norway's Telenor - Panafon, a Vodafone subsidiary, and Telecom Italia's Stet Hellas. The fourth approved bidder is Infoquest, a Greek IT group.

The Greek telecoms regulator, EETT has announced that four companies have registered an interest in the 3G license auction. The three existing GSM networks, CosmOTE, STET Hellas, Panafon Vodafone have all submitted an application, and the Greece based Infoquest is the new entrant to show an interest. As there are just four licenses available, the auction will probably only last one or two rounds.

Greece began accepting applications for the four available 3G licenses yesterday. The licenses will be formerly auctioned on July 11th.

Greece's National Telecommunications and Posts Commissions (EETT) has announced plans to auction four 3G mobile phone licences on 11th July at $130million each.

Applicants have until May 28 to submit their offers while the invitation to tender will be published on June 1. Qualified candidates will be announced on July 10 and the 3G licensing process initiated the following day. The two-day auction is expected to end on July 13.

The auction will be a pay-your-bid, sealed-bid process. EETT has also sought to make the financing process as pain-free as possible for telecoms operators. Successful bidders will pay an up front payment ranging from 40 percent to 100 percent depending on the number of winning bids.

The remaining fee will be stretched out in equal, interest-free annual installments, payable in 2005. The companies will also be required to pay an annual payment of 2 percent of turnover from 3G services. The first payment is due in 2005.

Potential bidders for the 3G licences include Greece's three existing 2G operators - Panafon, Cosmote and Telenor - and Hellas.

Greece government has announced plans to auction four 3G mobile phone licences later this year. The licences might be sold for $70m each.

Potential bidders for the 3G licences include: Panafon, Cosmote, Telenor, Telecom Italia's Stet Hellas.