BERNE, Switzerland-Only five bidders will compete for four Universal Mobile Telecommunications System licenses in Switzerland, as three contenders dropped out late last week, down from an original 10 interested companies.
The licenses could bring a much lower amount than originally anticipated, with only one more bidder than licenses.
Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., Telenor AS and Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobil International all dropped out of the auction, citing high license costs. Two other companies had previously withdrawn.
The remaining five are Swisscom Mobile, in which Vodafone Group plc acquired a 25-percent stake last week; France Telecom’s Orange Communications; incumbent diAx, owned 40 percent by SBC Communications; Sunrise Communications AG, a consortium including Tele Danmark and British Telecommunications plc; and Spain’s Telefonica. The auction is set to begin on Monday.
