BIENNE, Switzerland-Two of the five companies left to bid in a Swiss third-generation license auction merged, causing the Swiss government to postpone the auction of four licenses. Four companies are left in a race for just four licenses.
“Virtually all candidates have undergone major changes in structure and ownership in the last few days,” said a statement from Ofcom, the Swiss regulatory agency. “This may affect the competition framework today and in the future on the Swiss market. Ofcom is analyzing this new situation and is examining various action options. Ofcom is also investigating if there are any indications that unlawful agreements were made.”
The latest ownership change came on Monday, when Denmark’s Tele Danmark said it paid $1.98 billion to purchase stakes in two of the bidders. Tele Danmark increased its stake in diAx, the incumbent wireless operator, and Sunrise Communications, a consortium that included British Telecommunications plc.
Tele Danmark purchased 70 percent of diAx by buying 40 percent of the shares owned by SBC Communications Inc. and 30 percent of the shares held by diAx Holding. In addition, it increased its stake in Sunrise to 89 percent from 44 percent by acquiring all the Sunrise shares held by BT (34.4 percent) and half the shares held by Swiss State Railways and Union Bank of Switzerland. Therefore, the two entities are combined, and Sunrise withdrew from the auction.
Ofcom said it is determining how to proceed with the awarding of the licenses. It said “individual licenses may be valued differently by the various candidates.
It is considering continuing the auction with only four candidates or allocating the licenses to the candidates. A decision is expected by the beginning of December.
The remaining four are Swisscom Mobile, France Telecom’s Orange Communications, diAx and Spain’s Telefonica.
