OXFORD, United Kingdom—The Polish telecom regulator, URTiP, has conceded that the three operators that purchased third-generation (3G) licenses will not be held to the contractual launch date due to the technical problems being experienced by equipment developers.
The operators, Polska Telefonica Cyfrowa (PTC), Polkomtel and PTK Centertel, which have each paid 650 million euro (US$586.8 million) for 3G licenses, made a request in March that called for a delay to the original 2003 deployment deadline. They had complained that as much as 3.1 billion euro (US$2.8 billion) will be needed to install the W-CDMA networks if they are held to the 2003 date.
The regulator, which has delayed the launch schedule for 3G services to sometime in 2005, has also given way on coverage requirements, stating that the three operators must now cover areas accounting for only 20 percent of Poland’s 39 million residents by the end of 2005, and 40 percent by the end of 2007.
Meanwhile, Romania said it plans to award as many as four 3G licenses before August and expects some of the large European operators to bid. Those interested include the country’s existing GSM operator Mobifon, backed by Vodafone, and Canada’s TIW, while France T
