You are here: silicon.com > Management > Law & Policy

European UMTS auctions under investigation

By Deborah Schofield

Published: 7 September 2000 12:11 BST

European competition authorities are investigating claims that auctions of third-generation mobile phone licences have breached regulations in some European Union countries.

According to reports in Reuters, a European Parliament debate regarding fair competition in the telecoms industry yesterday heard Mario Monti, EU Competition Commissioner, confirm that the UMTS auctions are being investigated for possible breach of state-aid regulations.

The move comes in response to two separate complaints. Both French conglomerate Bouygues and Dutch telecoms network operator Versatel lodged objections to auction processes, citing discriminating pricing and 'closed shop' arrangements as barriers to fair competition.

Add comment

Print story

Email story

RSS

French telecom operators hit out at 3G entry fee

French operator takes UMTS complaint to Brussels

Dutch 3G auction is falling short of expectations

EC to outline slash in roaming rate

T-Mobile and mmO2 to share 3G network costs

In silicon.com

Commentary

Peter Cochrane Peter Cochrane's Blog: Science friction Why do we feel so threatened by machines?

Cathy Holley Job interviews: The inside track… What questions await you?

Latest News

Google Street View cleared by UK privacy watchdog

Microsoft slams Google-Yahoo! ad deal

BT plans £1.5bn fat pipe upgrade

Banks unprepared for EU payments directive

UK must overhaul data sharing rules

Gov't data retention - how much is too much?

Jobs

Lead Telecoms Analyst

Lead Telecoms Analyst Are you a Telecoms wizard with an in-depth understanding of voice technologies? TUI are seeking a technically savvy Lead ...

Telecoms software Engineer, Hampshire

C++ - GSM - UMTS - GUI - Linux An exceptional chance to join a specialist communications and security company focused on solutions for law ...

Telecoms Consultants (Billing, CRM, OSS, Customer Service etc)

You will ideally be an experienced Telecoms Consultant from a strong academic background and have previously worked for a Top-Tier Management ...

Special Report Focus

CIO50 2008
The silicon.com CIO50 2008 profiles the most influential and innovative tech chiefs in the UK across all industries and organisation size, from the biggest FTSE100 companies to high growth dot-com start ups and the public sector. The list was voted on by the UK CIO community and a panel of experts. Find out more in our latest special report.