By Ron Coates, 30 May 2001 12:00
NEWS Chancellor Gordon Brown this morning ruled out any chance of a rebate for the winners of last year's £22bn 3G auction. At a news conference in London, he said: "There won't be any change in our policy. People paid the price they were prepared to offer." And he rejected the suggestion that the huge debt built up by European telcos in the 3G auctions will act as a brake to economic growth. According to Brown, economic growth is dependent on the government's fiscal and monetary policy. There have been signs of heavy lobbying for a rebate, particularly by BT, but with the other four auction 'winners', Vodafone, Orange, One-to-One and Hutchison Whampoa, not averse to suggesting that it would be a good idea. Payment of the auction fees have left telcos across Europe struggling to find the cash to actually build their networks.
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