Germany, one of Western Europe’s most developed mobile telephone markets, is preparing to license a fourth operator to further stimulate competition.
Parties interested in the E-2 nationwide 1800 MHz digital personal communications network license must submit bids by Oct. 15, said Volker Wirsdorf, commercial specialist in the U.S. Embassy in Bonn. The government plans to issue the Global System for Mobile communications network-based license by early next year.
Germany’s current wireless service providers are excluded from the tender, but any other entity can apply for the license, which has no foreign ownership restrictions, said Wirsdorf. Economical and technical performance will be key criteria in selecting an operator, he added. Application and license fees have not been determined, according to Wirsdorf.
One source said a joint venture of RWE AG, Viag AG and British Telecommunications plc, is expected to bid on the PCN license.
E-Plus, a venture of Thyssen AG, Veba AG and BellSouth Corp., started offering service on its GSM PCN network in 1994. Deutsche Telekom’s DeTeMobil subsidiary and Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH have operated GSM cellular networks, D1 and D2, respectively, since 1987. Mannesmann is a joint venture of AirTouch Communications Inc. and Mannesmann AG.
The London office of Economic and Management Consultants International Inc. said Germany had 4.6 million mobile phone customers in June, which represents about 5.7 percent penetration.
DeTeMobil reported 1.8 million GSM customers, an increase of 80 percent since April 1995, and 600,000 C-Netz 450 MHz analog users, said EMCI analyst Jake Saunders. Mannesmann surpassed DeTeMobil’s GSM market lead, with 1.9 million customers in June, compared with fewer than one million a year ago. E-Plus claimed 325,000 GSM subscribers in June, which is 5 times the number of users it reported last year.
RWE Telliance AG, the telecom arm of German conglomerate RWE Energie AG, previously announced it would seek approval to compete with Deutsche Telekom in the wireline arena once telecom markets open completely. RWE already has a network in place, currently used for energy and utility purposes. The company said one option would be to launch a wireless local loop system that would provide an alternative to Deutsche Telekom’s monopoly phone service.
As a member of the European Union, Germany must open all telecommunications markets to competition by Jan. 1, 1998.
