Hutchison declines UMTS bids in Poland and Switzerland

Asian Telecom group Hutchison Whampoa has announced it is withdrawing its bid for third generation mobile telecom UMTS licenses in both Poland and in Sweden. The decision poses a threat to the UMTS auction in Poland because the company was regarded as a dynamic leader and an aggressive competitor to the GSM mobile phone operators already present on the Polish market. Info TV Bloomberg quoted Hutchison spokesperson Laura Cheung saying that Hutchison decided to withdraw from the UMTS bids in Poland and Sweden because neither market's potential was worth the risk involved. According to market sources, the Asian telecom was supposed to form a consortium with Polpager-Polsat known as 3G. "We have no information regarding Hutchison's withdrawal. What we do know is that it has not purchased the auction documents," said Polsat board member Jozef Birka