Switzerland rethinks its UMTS strategy

NEWS The auction was stopped after the consolidation of several candidates left only four bidders - Orange Communications, Sunrise/diAx, Swisscom and Telefonica - for four licences, which would have cut short the auction process and limited the money raised. According to Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung, the government was disappointed that it would not raise as much money as Britain or Germany and so postponed the auction. Marc Furrer, president of the Swiss office of federal communications said the government was now debating two future courses of action. Furrer predicted that the government may restart the auction with new bidders or issue the licences at a fixed fee. Nigel Deighton, research director at Gartner Group Europe, said: "The Swiss are being really bad losers. Switzerland might take a leaf out of France's book and decide on a beauty contest with a fixed entry fee to guarantee income. "The market is consolidating and the big guys are winning out. Effectively what is being said in the auction is that unless you have very deep pockets you need not apply. It is not a level playing field."