From: TheStandardEurope.com
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Sent: 31/01/01 22:06
Subject: INTELLIGENCER EUROPE: Bouygues backs out of 3G
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THE INDUSTRY STANDARD EUROPE'S
I N T E L L I G E N C E R E U R O P E
This week in the European Internet economy
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translations by eTranslate
Wednesday 31 January, 2001
TOP STORY:
* Bouygues backs out of 3G
WORTH REPEATING:
* Boosting the BBC
BRIEFS:
* News highlights of the week
BY THE NUMBERS:
* More cream for dotcom fat cats
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TOP STORY
~~~~~~~~~
Bouygues backs out of 3G
Citing a hefty price tag, the mobile operator has declined to apply
for a 3G licence in France. It's not the first to say no
By Kristi Essick
France's third-largest mobile phone operator, Bouygues, announced on
Wednesday it would not apply for a 3G licence from the French
government. It joins the Suez-Telefónica consortium, which withdrew
from the licence sale last week.
Like Suez-Telefónica, Bouygues believes the 4.95 billion-euro price
tag is too high. That leaves two operators applying for four licences
- and the government's plans to make a bundle in shambles.
"The speculative bubble has burst," said Martin Bouygues, president of
Bouygues, the parent company of Bouygues Telecom. "We want to offer
wireless multimedia, but at the lowest possible price."
In France, the government opted for a "beauty contest", whereby
operators are awarded licences based on their ability to roll out
comprehensive services. The government fixed the price at nearly 5
billion euros last spring, just after the lucrative German and British
auctions. At the time, many observers thought the price too high, but
the French government justified its choice by saying it was less than
the sums paid by operators in the UK and Germany.
Bouygues Telecom shareholders decided not to meet Wednesday's deadline
for filing an application for one of France's four UMTS licences
because they judged the operation would have too large an impact on
short- and medium-term profitability, Mr. Bouygues said. "The fee is
the same no matter how many clients the operator has," he said. "This
is discriminatory to new entrants and reinforces the dominant position
of the historic operator."
Only France Telecom, via its Orange subsidiary, and Cegetel's SFR have
applied for licences.
Bouygues Telecom plans to concentrate instead on less sophisticated
GPRS and Edge mobile standards, combined with compression
technologies, to deliver multimedia content over its network. The
company reckons it can roll out wireless multimedia services for about
FF10 billion (1.5 billion euros), compared to an estimate of FF60
billion (9 billion euros) to roll out UMTS.
"We think GPRS is a satisfying solution when used with new compression
technologies," Mr. Bouygues said. While he is clear the decision is a
radical one - Bouygues Telecom is the first mobile operator to steer
clear of a licence in its home market - Bouygues said he "isn't afraid
of originality."
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WORTH REPEATING
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Because a public company is using initiative and enterprise - for
this, we should stop it?"
Alan Keen, an MP on the UK government's Select Committee on Culture,
Media and Sport, responding to a group of Internet publishers who
demanded that the BBC be subjected to heavy government scrutiny in
launching its commercially-funded news site
---------------------------------------------------------------------
BRIEFS
~~~~~~
BEEB AD ON: The BBC has confirmed plans to launch an ad-supported news
site directed at overseas readers. Caroline Thomson, director of
public policy at the corporation, also reveals the initiative is
backed by the government to minimise the financial burden on UK
licence-fee payers. Sources suggest the site will be dubbed
BBCNews.com and hope it will become an important source of future
revenue for the Beeb. Meanwhile, a hot-tempered debate at a House of
Commons Select Committee on Wednesday suggested that MPs are unlikely
to stand in the way of the plan.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966329
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966330
ERICSSON DISENGAGES: The Ericsson phone, Sweden's most recognisable
product since the Volvo, is to be made by a Singapore firm to save
costs. Last week Ericsson announced plans to outsource all production
of mobile telephone handsets in a bid to turn around its fortunes at
the highly competitive consumer end of the market. Singapore-based
Flextronics International will take over Ericsson facilities around
the globe as part of the deal, and some 4,200 Ericsson employees will
join Flextronics.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966331
MILKING NAPSTER: In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Bertelsmann's chief executive officer announced a new fee-based
subscription version of Napster. Another executive added: "The new
service will co-exist with the existing Napster service." Although a
pricing structure has yet to be announced, a recent survey of 20,000
of Napster's 57 million users showed that a large majority is willing
to pay up to $15 (16 euros) a month for the music download service.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966332
LETSGO AGAIN: LetsBuyIt.com is sacking 200 of its 350 staff as it
begins a restructuring which will see many of its 12 European offices
close. Acting chief executive John Palmer believes that a spend of 40
million euros will take the business through to profitability in the
fourth quarter of 2002. But Kim Schmitz, the investor and former
hacker who surfaced last week with a promise to rescue the ailing
aggregate-buying site, is not all he seems...
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966333
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966334
E-ENVOY AHOY: Andrew Pinder, the UK government's temporary "e-envoy",
has been appointed to the position permanently following an open
competition for the job. The post, created in November 1998, has
generated much media and popular interest - and involves assisting the
government to get all its services online by the target date of 2005
and acting as an ambassador for British e-commerce. Pinder's
background includes stints in senior roles at the Inland Revenue,
Prudential and Citibank.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966335
IMPOSSIBLE DREAMCAST: Sega has for the first time licensed out the
architecture of its Dreamcast games console to another company. The
struggling games company has signed a deal with UK-based Pace Micro
Technology, a specialist manufacturer of cable and satellite set-top
boxes. In addition to doubling as a cable TV set-top box and games
console, the new terminals will have broadband connectivity, a
hard-disk drive and support. In the face of continued losses, Sega is
stopping production of its console and will focus on creating games
software.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966336
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966337
HERRING MIGRATION: Red Herring Communications, publisher of new
economy magazine Red Herring, has lost a key member of its European
news operation. Kenneth Cukier, European editor and London bureau
chief, has resigned, taking up a position as technology editor at the
Asian Wall Street Journal. The departure of Cukier, who was the
Herring's first European correspondent, leaves the technology magazine
with a single reporter in Europe.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966338
BAD RELATIONS: Could corporate software powerhouses Oracle, IBM and
SAP be getting it all wrong? These giants have built their businesses
on a database model that is 30 years old. Now a British businessman
has come up with an approach that he claims is the first to be
designed with the Internet in mind. The inventor of this "associative"
- as opposed to "relational" - model, Simon Williams, has a background
that demands serious attention.
http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=110982215&i=298591&d=966339
----------------------------------------------------------------------
BY THE NUMBERS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The dotcom bubble may have burst, but that hasn't stopped Britain's
top Internet company executives hiking their salaries by 50 per cent
over the past six months. The survey, which saw 2,000 executives from
200 Net companies across Europe polled, revealed British salaries are
almost at US levels - and twice the size of those on continental
Europe.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/dynamic/news/business_story.html?in_review
_id=356039&in_review_text_id=300925
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STAFF
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Written by James Price. Send news tips and press releases to
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