Hewitt Confirms Take-Off Date for Airborne Internet Licence Auction

RA Press Release - 26 October 2000

Patricia Hewitt, Minister for e-Commerce and Small Business today confirmed that the auction for licences to deliver internet and multimedia services over the airwaves - Broadband Fixed Wireless Access (BFWA) 28GHz auction - will start on Friday 10 November.

Ms Hewitt said:

"In today’s information society, more and more people are using innovative, interactive multimedia services, such as the Internet, video conferencing and data transfer.

"Broadband Fixed Wireless Access will deliver fast, always-on access to these services using the airwaves, rather than down a telephone line or cable. UK businesses and the economy more generally, will benefit from this new competition, which I expect will result in a faster roll out of innovative services and lower prices.

"With three licences for each region and nine bidders participating, I look forward to a competitive auction."

The progress of the auction will be published round by round on the spectrum auctions website – www.spectrumauctions.gov.uk

1. The Government will auction three spectrum licences in the 28GHz band in each of 11 English regions, plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Reserve prices range from £4 million per licence in London to £100,000 per licence in Northern Ireland. News release P/2000/584 issued on 22 August refers.

2. Each licence is valid until 31 December 2015. There are also "use it or lose it" provisions in the licences to ensure that services are rolled out quickly, promoting competition and preventing spectrum hoarding.

3. Details of the auction procedure are contained in the Information Memorandum published on 26 July 2000. It is available on the Radiocommunications Agency website www.radio.gov.uk and in printed form from the Agency's library:

Information and Library Service,
Radiocommunications Agency
Wyndham House,
189 Marsh Wall, 
London E14 9SX

Telephone: 020 7211 0502/5;
Fax 020 7211 0507;
e-mail: library.@gsi.gov.uk

Nine bidders have qualified to take part in the auction: EIRCOM NI Ltd (formerly Atlas Communications (UK) LTD); Broadnet UK LTD; Energis Local Access LTD; Faultbasic LTD; FirstMark Communications (UK) LTD; Formus Communications UK LTD; Norweb Telecom LTD; Unica BFWA LTD (formerly Templeco 489 LTD); Winstar Communications Ltd.

Orange Personal Communications Services LTD and Priority Wireless (UK) LTD have withdrawn from the auction and Chorus Communication LTD were excluded from the auction following a breach of the auction activity rules.

6. The Radiocommunications Agency is an executive agency of the DTI, responsible for licensing civil use of the radio spectrum in the UK.

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