Regulator opens a debate on the future of UMTS

Witold Graboś, the chairman of the Postal and Telecommunication Regulation Office (URTiP), thinks that the UMTS mobile phone system has only a slim chance to be a success. Due to this, he proposed mobile operators transfer their UMTS obligations into introduction of any 3G technology. Graboś added that currently there is a gap of matching UMTS with other technologies, which boils down to particular problems with roaming. "It requires immense investments and building new infrastructure from scratch. This would have to be financed by the market and if it does not pay off, then customers would have to foot the bill," explained Graboś. Representatives of mobile operators are skeptical about the future of UMTS, but they are cautious on commenting on the new proposal, and prefer to hear more details on the suggestion. Antoni Mielniczuk from PTC, operator of Era GSM, said that changing UMTS obligations into 3G is a good idea, but it does not solve all problems especially in terms of paying for the licenses, which requires all of the operators to pay EUR 650 million each. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 7) M.M.