Spanish Telefonica enters the race for UMTS licenses

Spanish Telefonica reached an agreement with Grupa Polpager, Ferrovial and Budimex to establish a consortium which will make an offer in Poland's third generation mobile telephone (UMTS) license tender. Also, according to unofficial information, two Turkish companies, Turkcell and Rumeli, have pulled out from the race. Meanwhile, Poland's Telecoms Ministry offered a last minute concession to potential bidders saying it would offer equal amounts of left-over bandwidth if less than five permits are awarded. Saturday is the deadline for interested parties to submit a bid in the tender. (Reuters, Puls Biznesu, p.4, Gazeta Wyborcza, p.24)