[eccr] Telecoms companies postpone 3G roll-out

Title: Telecoms companies postpone 3G roll-out

Telecoms companies postpone 3G roll-out

In short:
Several European telecoms companies are reassessing their plans for a roll-out of 3G services. On 6 August, Orange, the mobile subsidiary of France Telecom, asked the Swedish regulators for a three-year delay of the foreseen roll-out schedule. 
  



Background:
'3G' or 'third generation mobile communications' combines wireless mobile technology with data transmission capacities. '3G' officially refers to systems and services based on the ITU family of standards under its International Mobile Telecommunications programme 'IMT-2000'. The first 3G services on the market in Europe are expected early 2003, but several factors have created great uncertainty for the market development: auctions for 3G licenses at very high price, cost of infrastructure investments, high debt ratios for operators and major drops in their share prices. 

In March 2001 the Commission issued a Communication on the introduction of third generation mobile communications in the EU. This Communication is currently awaiting EP consultation. The Commission on 12 June presented a Communication "Towards the Full Roll-Out of Third Generation Mobile Communications". The Seville Council (June 2002) has invited the Commission to report back to the Copenhagen European Council (December 2002) on the issue of the remaining barriers in the field of third-generation mobile communications. 

Issues:
The news on the 3G introduction postponement by Orange in Sweden, comes a few weeks after Spanish Telefonica announced its intentions to ditch its third generation (3G) mobile phone operations outside Sapin. Some market analysts believe that more operators will be looking at ways to cut back further on their 3G spending. 

Source: http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/?targ=1&204&OIDN=1503793