Norway’s Ministry of Transport and Communications announced plans to award three national Digital Cellular System 1800 licenses, perhaps by this summer. However, the winners will not be required to build networks nationwide.
The new personal communications network operators will be required to provide service in cities with populations of more than 25,000. This coverage proposal may be a move to generate more interest from qualified parties.
Mobile phones already are used by more than 25 percent of Norway’s population, reported B. Roger Olsen, senior commercial officer at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo.
About half of Norway’s 1 million mobile phone users subscribe to Global System for Mobile communications 900 MHz services, while the other half use analog service on one of two Nordic Mobile Telephone networks, at 450 MHz and 900 MHz. The embassy reported Norway expects GSM systems will carry 900,000 users by 2003.
Cellular operators Telenor Mobil and Netcom A/S received approval from the ministry to test DCS 1800 systems, said the embassy. One European publication reported that the cellular operators have been testing the systems in Oslo for about two years.
Telenor Mobil, which operates one GSM and both NMT networks, previously was a subsidiary of state-owned monopoly Telenor A/S. Though now private, Telenor Mobil’s operations are still controlled by Telenor A/S.
Netcom is a consortium of the Swedish Kinnervik Group, Ameritech International and Singapore Telecom. The operator won its GSM license in a highly competitive tender about seven years ago.
Conditions of the DCS 1800 licenses were included in pre-tender documents sent to interested parties. The ministry’s criteria for selecting winners includes financial strength, proposed business plan and plans for network rollout. The DCS 1800 licenses will carry an annual fee.
The government of Norway is interested in operators integrating or combining GSM, European Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications and DCS 1800 systems, as well as linking satellites to fixed networks, said the embassy.
The DECT system was established two years ago and is used primarily in densely populated areas.
While Norway previously was a fairly closed market to most international telecom companies, this is changing, reported the embassy. Foreign companies offering effective services, technologies and equipment are welcome.
