Orange Asks for Swedish 3G Delay

Orange Sverige in Sweden has applied to the local telecoms regulator, the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency to delay its 3G network launch by 3.5 years. It also asked to have its roll-out obligations lowered, reducing coverage to 8.3 million people (93% population) instead of the 8.86 million (98% population) originally planned. The drop in population coverage is in numbers quite small, but due to the population distribution being very concentrated in Sweden - the landmass that no longer needs to be covered is quite substantial, and would lead to fairly large capex savings.

As the license was awarded under a beauty contest, if the regulator refuses to extend the launch deadline beyond next year Orange could face loosing its license if it misses the original deadline.

The company has cited the difficulty in acquiring cell site locations and the expected lack of 3G handsets as reasons for requesting the delay.'"

Posted to the site on 8th August 2002