Major faults in formalities committed by PTS in processing Telia's UMTS license application

Major faults in formalities committed by PTS in processing Telia's UMTS license application "I am very upset about the way the Swedish National Post and Telecommunications Agency (PTS) ignored the section of the Swedish Telecommunications Act regarding access to telecommunications when it awarded UMTS licenses. The law states that private individuals are to have access to efficient telecommunications at the lowest possible cost to the national economy. But the PTS has certainly taken no law into consideration. If the PTS had done so, Telia would have been awarded a license straight away. Now customers will have to pay for the cost of Sweden's 3G networks." The above statement was made by Marianne Nivert, Telia's President and CEO, in a commentary on the appeal that Telia's board decided to submit. In its appeal, Telia AB points out a number of faults regarding pure formalities that the PTS committed when processing Telia's application. It also points out that the PTS made incorrect technical calculations. In its appeal, Telia also states that the PTS has not complied with its own regulations. Among other things, the PTS did not evaluate the applications in terms of their commercial viability, and consequently ignored the section about telecommunication access in the Swedish Telecommunications Act, which states: "The provisions of the Act aim at ensuring that private individuals, legal entities and public authorities shall have access to effective telecommunications at the lowest possible cost to the national economy". In Telia's opinion, the PTS, in violation of the law, awarded the licenses as if it was a public procurement process and not as a license allocation procedure in accordance with the Swedish Telecommunications Act. "It is also a serious fault that the PTS did not comply with its examination and communications obligations - it would cleared up a lot of question marks," stated Marianne Nivert. This criticism refers to the fact that the PTS hired external consultants to examine the applications and that these consultants added important information to the examination which the PTS, in violation of Swedish administrative law, did not inform Telia about. These external consultants had also asked relevant questions about Telia's application - questions that the PTS did not refer to Telia for consideration. If Telia had obtained this information, and been allowed to answer the questions, Telia, in all likelihood, would have been awarded a license. Telia requests that the county administrative court system stop the execution of the PTS' decision - to freeze it - until the court has processed Telia's appeal. For further information please contact: Telia´s Press Office phone No. +46 8 713 58 30 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/01/05/20010105BIT00200/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/01/05/20010105BIT00200/bit0002.pdf