Austria
The Austrian telecom control and licensing authority has started consultations with telecom providers on introducing third-generation systems. Austria must license at least one 3G standard to the UMTS specifications, according to an EU directive. The authority has not decided on the number of licenses and whether 3G standards other than UMTS will be licensed in Austria.
Germany
Third-generation licenses in Germany will cost about DM2 billion (US$1.07 billion), estimated to WirtschaftsWoche, a weekly magazine. The 3G licenses are scheduled to be auctioned at the beginning of next year.
United Kingdom
A London High Court judge said the government cannot force existing wireless operators to grant roaming rights to a new entrant. The government plans to auction 3G spectrum in January, and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) modified licensing plans to include an extra license reserved for a new entrant. DTI planned to require the country’s four existing operators-Vodafone, Cellnet, Orange and One 2 One-to open their networks to the new entrant or risk being banned from bidding in next year’s auction. One-2-One and Orange challenged the government’s rights to change terms in their licensing agreements, which did not spell out mandated roaming. The court agreed, but said roaming rights were important for a new entrant to compete with existing operators.
