COPENHAGEN, Denmark-Denmark awarded two new GSM 900 MHz licenses to Mobilix and Telia Denmark, the country’s two incumbent operators that had only GSM 1800 MHz licenses.
Telia said the GSM 900 MHz license enables it to build a mobile network with full national coverage in 2002. “Telia will be the only operator with full national GSM coverage in 2002 in Sweden, Denmark and Norway,” said Kenneth Karlberg, senior executive vice president of Telia AB and chief executive officer of Telia Mobile AB.
The Swedish carrier has said it plans to be the leading mobile operator in the Nordic countries. However, it was recently passed over for a third-generation license in Sweden. Telia has since signed a mobile virtual network operator agreement with NetCom AB, which did receive a Swedish 3G license late last year.
“The GSM 900 licenses will also heighten the competition in the Danish market, which is good for the customers both in regards to pricing, coverage and services,” said Poul Erik Olsen, head of Telia Mobile Denmark.
Denmark plans to auction 3G licenses in the second half of this year.
Sonofon and Tele Danmark Mobile also offer GSM 900 MHz services in Denmark. Tele Danmark was the market leader at the end of September 2000 with 3.14 million subscribers. Sonofon had nearly 930,000 subscribers, followed by Mobilix with 480,000 and Telia with 279,000 at the end of last September.
