Broadwave Communications was the first consortium to formally file its application for one of the four third-generation (3G) mobile network licenses to be awarded in Sweden, the country's regulator said Friday.
As of 3 p.m. Central European Time, the deadline for filing applications, the Broadwave consortium was joined by nine other applicants, the Swedish National Post and Telecom Agency (Post- och telestyrelsen, or PTS) said via its Web site.
Although a relatively small market -- the country has a population of 8.9 million people -- Sweden's reputation as one of the world's most advanced wireless communications markets led many leading international players to join the consortia seeking the licenses. Apart from Sweden's three existing mobile service providers, most of the applicants consist of consortia with both Swedish and international members.
The Orange Sverige AB consortium, for example, includes France Télécom SA, NTL Ltd. and Schibsted AS, as well as Sweden-based Bredband Mobil AB and Skanska AB, while Deutsche Telekom AG's mobile unit, T-Mobile International AG, is part of the Mobile4Sweden group that also includes Utfors AB and ABB Energy Ventures BV.
Led by Swedish broadband operator Tele1 Europe Holding AB and Western Wireless International Corp., a subsidiary of Bellevue, Washington-based Western Wireless Corp., the Broadwave grouping also includes Swedish fixed-line telecommunications operator Rix Telecom AB, as well as the 2G/3P Group of Finland and You Communication of Norway.
The HI3G Access AB consortium, meanwhile, is made up of Swedish investment company Investor AB and Hong Kong-based operator Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.
Also competing are Reach Out Mobile AG group, which consists of Finland's Sonera Corp., Spain's Telefónica SA and a Swedish investment company, as well as the Tenora Networks AB consortium, which among its founding members boasts Swedish radio and television network operator Teracom AB and Nomura International PLC .
Tenora's business plan calls for the creation of an open UMTS network with capacity to be made available to several operators. Among the companies that have shown an interest in providing services over the network is U.S.-based WorldCom Inc., Teracom said in a statement.
Broadwave, Mobile4Sweden, Reach Out Mobile, Tenora and Sweden-based telecom operator Telenordia AB filed for both a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) license for third-generation services, as well as one for a second-generation GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) network. Up to two of the new licenses to be awarded will be for a combined UMTS/GSM package.
British Telecommunications PLC and Norwegian operator Telenor AS earlier this week took over the 33 percent stake in Telenordia previously owned by Danish operator Tele Danmark AS.
Although four UMTS licenses are scheduled to be awarded by PTS in November, Sweden's three existing GSM network operators are widely expected to obtain one UMTS license each as well, which in practice leaves only one license to be contested by the new entrants to the market.
The three incumbents, Europolitan AB, NetCom AB-owned Tele2 AB and Telia AB, can also leverage their existing infrastructure to roll out third-generation network equipment and services at a faster pace and lower cost than competitors who would need to start from scratch.
Telia, the largest of the three existing operators, said in a summary of its application that it expects to roll out UMTS services by September 2001 and that it expects to invest 7 billion kronor (US$750 million) to 11 billion kronor over a 10-year period to build a nationwide network.
That compares to Broadwave, which has no existing wireless network infrastructure in Sweden and expects total investment to reach 14.7 billion kronor, according to a summary of Broadwave's application.
Following the so-called beauty contest model, PTS will award the UMTS licenses to the four operators judged to have presented the best business plans for speedy deployment of third-generation services throughout Sweden, rather than the kind of auction-based licensing procedure that has allowed the German and U.K. governments to rake in tens of billions of dollars.
Europolitan, in its application summary, said that it expects to be the first of all applicants to offer UMTS services, with a scheduled roll-out in the first half of next year. Many of the forthcoming services will be Internet-based, taking advantage of the faster data transfer capabilities of third-generation networks.
PTS, in Stockholm, can be reached at +46-8-678-5500 or via the Web at http://www.pts.se/.