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Hewitt Announces Plans For Selling Wireless Internet Licences |
Press Release - 13 February 2001
January 2001 E-Minister Patricia Hewitt today announced proposals for allocating the unsold broadband licences at 28GHz, following the Government's recent auction.
Companies winning the licences will be able to deliver Internet and multimedia services over the airwaves.
Ms Hewitt said:
"I am very encouraged by the number of companies that have come forward and are interested in the unsold broadband licences following our recent auction.
"The Radiocommunications Agency report on the outcome of the auction, a summary of which I am publishing today, includes a proposal for inviting offers at the reserve prices set for the auction. Following consultation with the industry, I intend to make the licences available in the summer."
Licences for broadband wireless services have already been sold in half the country. Under today's proposal, companies will have a further chance to buy licences for the other parts of the UK.
The proposal in the summary report would allow a company to bid for an unsold licence at the existing reserve price when it decided that market conditions were right. This would trigger an auction for that licence only if other companies were interested in bidding for the licence. If no other company were interested, the bidder would be awarded the licence at the reserve price. This process would continue until all the licences were taken up or the Government decided to withdraw the offer.
Notes to Editors:
1. The Summary Report on the Broadband Fixed Wireless Access 28 GHz Auction is available on the RA website: www.radio.gov.uk
2. The Government auctioned three spectrum licences in the 28GHz band in each of 11 English regions, plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The auction began on 10 November and ended on 20 November 2000.
3. The licences which remain unsold are:
| Region D | Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire | 3 licences |
| Region E | Essex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire | 3 licences |
| Region F | Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire | 3 licences |
| Region G | Derbyshire, Lincolnshire (other than the areas of North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire District Councils), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, and Rutland | 3 licences |
| Region H | Kent, Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex | 3 licences |
| Region I | East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and the areas of North Lincolnshire and North-east Lincolnshire District Councils | 1 licence |
| Region J | Tyne and Wear, Durham, Northumberland, Cumbria and Lancashire | 2 licences |
| Region K | Bristol, Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire | 3 licences |
| Region L | Scotland | 2 licences |
| Region M | Wales | 3 licences |
4. Full results of the auction are available on the Radiocommunications Agency website www.radio.gov.uk and on www.spectrumauctions.gov.uk
5. The Radiocommunications Agency is an executive agency of the DTI, responsible for licensing civil use of the radio spectrum in the UK.
"The Radiocommunications Agency report on the outcome of the auction, a summary of which I am publishing today, includes a proposal for inviting offers at the reserve prices set for the auction. Following consultation with the industry, I intend to make the licences available in the summer." Jacqui O' Mahoney
DTI Media Enquiries:
020 7215 2345
Out of Hours: 020 7215 3234/3505
Public Enquiries: 020 7215 5000
Textphone for those with hearing impairments: 020 7215 6740
Radiocommunications Agency Public Enquiries: 020 7211 0211
DTI website: www.dti.gov.uk
Radiocommunications Agency website: www.radio.gov.uk
| P/2001/64 |
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