By Julian Goldsmith, 27 November 2001 08:02
NEWS Mario Monti, the EU competition commissioner, has called for a rationalisation of telecoms licence auctioning rules. Monti said several mobile operators had complained to him that the different bidding procedures had resulted in an uneven playing field. Some operators had been brought to the brink of bankruptcy after they had to fork out a share of the £62bn paid for next generation phone licences across Europe last year. EU enterprise commissioner Erkki Liikanen is expected to announce his support for Monti's proposal when he addresses European Union ministers. In the UK, the bidding procedure for 3G licences has caused a storm of protest, centring on the government allowing some mobile companies to defer payment for allocations. One2One has accused the UK government of letting rivals Vodafone and Orange gain £80m in interest after they were allowed to defer payment for 180 days.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.
Log in or create your silicon.com account below