LONDON-The U.K. government said it qualified all 13 applicants for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses to bid in a March auction.
“I am delighted that we have been able to qualify all the applicants and that we are on track for the auction beginning in March,” said Patricia Hewitt, e-commerce and small business minister. “I expect to announce the exact date for the start of the auction shortly.”
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The 13 applicants, announced in January and slated to bid in the auction, are 3G UK Ltd., BT (3G) Ltd., Crescent Wireless Ltd., Epsilon Tele.Com plc, NTL Mobile Ltd., One.Tel Global Wireless Ltd., One 2 One Personal Communications Ltd., Orange 3G Ltd., SpectrumCo Ltd., TIW UMTS (UK) Ltd., Telefonica UK Ltd., Vodafone Ltd. and WorldCom Wireless (UK) Ltd.
The U.K. government plans to auction five licenses, with one license exclusively reserved for a player currently not represented in the U.K. mobile market. Each bidder was required to submit a deposit of about $82.3 million.