TELECOMMUNICATIONS: NATIONAL REGULATOR REJECTS ORANGE'S REQUEST FOR MORE TIME.

Apart from technical problems, Orange backed up its request to the Swedish telecoms authority (PTS) by explaining that the late arrival of the traditional operator Telia onto the 3G scene in Sweden had changed the terms of the contract and distorted the competition. Orange and Vodafone Sverige both received one of the four (free) Swedish licences handed out by the Government in December 2000, along with Tele2 and Hi3G (Investor, Hutcheson Whampoa). To everyone's surprise, the traditional operator Telia was not awarded a licence. But it later...