Switzerland ready to close the doors to its beauty contest

NEWS The application process for Swiss UMTS licences closes on Friday and to date ten operators have applied for a chance to win one of the four licences on offer. Switzerland has rejected the auction process, instead opting for the 'beauty contest' in which operators will be judged on technical, financial and commercial merit as well as their forecast for network rollout and coverage. The entry fee for the contest was SFr50m (£19m). Candidates already entered in the beauty contest are: Swisscom Orange dspeed Sunrise Communications Cablecom Management headed by NTL Hutchinson 3G Europe Team 3G consortium formed by Telefonica, Sonera and OneTel Teledotcom Norway's Telenor Mobile Communications and Deutsche Telekom controlled by T-Mobile International. The licences will be awarded on 13 November.