The National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) has today decided to reject Vodafone’s application for the amendment of the conditions for the development of 3G in Sweden. PTS considers that the reasons given by Vodafone are not sufficient to amend the conditions of the licence.
Vodafone applied, in September, for a two-year postponement of the development of 3G. The roll out of UMTS would then be complete on 31 December 2005 instead of 31 December 2003. As reasons, Vodafone stated that the processing of building permit matters by the municipalities required a lot of time compared with the processing that took place in connection with the development of the GSM network. Vodafone also considers that the telecommunications conflict and flight restrictions review by the Swedish Armed Forces has delayed the development of 3G.
According to PTS, Vodafone should reasonably have known that the processing of building permit applications for the 3G network by the municipalities would take a significantly longer time than the processing of building permits for the GSM network, because significantly greater numbers of building permits were involved. PTS has continuous dialogue with the municipalities and authorities affected by the building permits processing. PTS has made the assessment that the problems with building permits that exist are not so extensive that they can now form a basis for amending the conditions of the licence.
Nor does PTS consider that the telecommunications conflict and flight restrictions review by the Armed Forces is a reason to now amend the conditions. Vodafone ought to have been aware of the role of the Armed Forces in the development of the telecommunications network. As regards the processing by the Armed Forces, this has taken time, among other reasons owing to problems with resources. However, the Armed Forces have now implemented several measures to resolve these problems.
PTS will, during the spring of 2003, continue to monitor the development of 3G carefully and conduct an investigation to further examine the situation regarding building permits.
Decision (pdf 194 kB)
Contact persons:
Ann-Marie Engvall, Director of the Telecom Department, tel. 08-678 56 58(Int.: +46 8-678 56 58)
Katarina Kämpe, Director of Communications, tel. 0708-15 10 15 (Int.: +46 708-15 10 15)
The Post and Telecom Agency works to ensure that everyone in Sweden should have access to efficient, fairly priced and secure communications within the telecommunications, IT, radio and postal sectors.