S'pore to auction 3G licenses

S'pore to auction 3G licenses

SINGAPORE (Dow Jones): Singapore will issue up to four third-
generation mobile licenses through an auction that will be held
in February 2001, the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
said Friday.

The number of licenses to be issued is within market
expectations, but the method isn't. Analysts had expected
Singapore to use a combination of an auction and a beauty contest
to determine the winners.

The government said it decided to use only the auction method
in which the bidders will determine the cost of the 3G spectrum
as it allows the market to allocate scarce spectrum to the
highest bidder.

The government also set the initial bidding price at S$150
million (US$85 million), the IDA said.

Tjandra Kartika, a telecommunications analyst at G.K. Goh
Securities in Singapore, said he was surprised that the IDA is
using the bidding process to issue the licenses and said the
process will "make it more expensive" for the companies bidding.

The third generation mobile phone technology allows the
convergence of voice, video and data onto one platform.

Singapore has about two million mobile phone users in a
population of about 4 million.

Analysts said they also expect at least three of the licenses
will go to the three incumbent mobile phone operators, while the
fourth may either go to a foreign company or a new local
operator.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., MobileOne Pte. Ltd. and
StarHub Pte Ltd. are the three local companies that offer mobile
phone services in Singapore.

MobileOne's shareholders include Keppel Telecommunications &
Transportation Ltd., Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. and Pacific
Century CyberWorks Ltd..

StarHub, the latest entrant, counts government-controlled
Singapore Technologies Ltd., Singapore Power Ltd., Nippon
Telephone & Telegraph Ltd. (NTT) and British Telecommunications
PLC among its shareholders.