BERNE, Switzerland-The Federal Communications Commission of Switzerland canceled the auction of additional frequencies for mobile services based on the GSM standard. The agency accepted applications from the three remaining candidates and will distribute the frequencies according to an allocation procedure.
The auction had been postponed to 27 October following the withdrawal of One.Tel of Australia and before that Norway’s Telenor Mobile. The three remaining candidates, all current GSM operators in Switzerland, jointly made an application to change the auction procedure to an allocation procedure. The frequencies will be awarded to the three carriers-diAx, Orange Communications and Swisscom-according to the allocation agreement in the joint application.
The auction for four third-generation (3G) licenses in Switzerland is still scheduled for 13 November.
