NORWAY, Dec. 19 2000 (PRIMEZONE) -- The Portuguese company ONI WAY, where Telenor has a 20 percent stake, has been awarded a license by the Portuguese Government for third generation mobile operations (UMTS) in Portugal. The license was awarded after a "beauty contest", where the price for each license was set to 100 million Euro.
The majority owner (55 percent) of ONI WAY is the Portuguese telecom ONI SGPS, owned by EDP (Electricidade de Portugal), BCP (Banco Comercial Portugues) and the Oil and Gas Company GALP. Telenor Mobile Communication is the mobile operating partner in the consortium and is the second largest shareholder (20 percent). The remaining 25 percent has been divided between a number of strategic partners, among them the national Spanish electricity company Iberdrola and a major Portuguese media group.
ONI WAY was the only new operator to receive a license and will be investing in nation-wide UMTS coverage. This means Telenor will invest approximately 182 million (Euro) over the next five years.
Arve Johansen, CEO in Telenor Mobile Communications AS states: "This is Telenor's fourth UMTS license. We are very pleased that ONI WAY has been awarded a license in Portugal, and Telenor will commit all available efforts to ensure Portugal a competitive and reasonably priced UMTS operation."
The UMTS licenses have been awarded after a so-called "beauty contest" model, without an auction, where the price for each license was set to Euro 100 million. Portugal has three existing GSM operators and a mobile penetration of approximately 55 per cent. The remaining three UMTS licenses were awarded to the existing GSM operators; TMN, Telecel and Optimus.