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France delays 3G license tender to review T&Cs

Categories: Infrastructure
By: , IntoMobile
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009 at 4:48 PM

TeleGeography is reporting that the AFP is reporting (!) that French authorities have delayed the tender for a fourth 3G license, so that they can examine the T&Cs – this follows comments from the existing Operators that if the new license came in as a really sweet deal, they would be looking for monies back via the legal system!

The tender is expected to go ahead, and the license could cost about $273 million – but like all things, I guess we should wait and see. I have to say, I think a new Operator is going to have a hard time against the established guys, but perhaps we’ll see a cunning/different business model in play….!

[Via: TeleGeography]

About The Author

Ben Robinson

Ben is a 10+ year veteran of the Mobile industry – starting his career when SMS was a still a relatively new concept for most people (!), he has now consulted on everything from bleeding-edge Mobile content, to the next-gen accessories you might view it on. As a result he has a broad and deep knowledge in numerous areas of Mobile – from network operators to device vendors, to infrastructure and middleware vendors (not to mention content delivery) – and has worked for companies in all of these areas! He is based in the UK, a hotbed of activity for mobile, and recently became a father for the second time – as oppose to in his younger years when he was happy spend time tweaking all manner of mobile devices to 'nth' degree, he now looks for services and hardware that provide the most efficient, compact, and reliable improvements to his already manic life! It’s his opinion that Mobile solutions should be there to help to make your life better – if a particular solution (be it service or device) isn’t doing this, he believes you need to ask the very important question of why you continue to use it... His focus at IntoMobile is mainly on Mobile content, services, and infrastructure, particularly as regards the UK market – and with the occasional look at devices. Additionally, using his extensive experience in the industry, he will provide commentary on the industry at large, with regular (and hopefully thought-provoking) articles.

  • Julien (JaXX) Banchet

    Another shot of months waiting… And between us, they’re not examinating anything… Our crappy “gouvernement” is deeply tied to the three actual bigplayers, who are fined every few years by .eu for leveling prices together and not competing.
    By the way, the owner of one of the three is the godparent of one of Sarkozy’s kids…
    And they’re not hiding that everything is simply waiting to get signed at the Elysée Palace tom move along.

    And they are all scared to death of the 4th player being ILIAD, the company who brought multiservice (tv+freephone+28Mbs) unmetered and unbundled ADSL to France under the brand “Free” which clearly stated they wanted to cut by ten the cost of mobile per household!

    Lobbies, “corrupted” Gov => No competition, no innovation, high pitched prices, bas service.

  • Julien (JaXX) Banchet

    “to move along” … not “tom” :-)