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Last Words
Swedish Town Vetoes 3G Mast Erection
By BWCS
10/01/2003
Swedish UMTS network operator 3G Infrastructure Services has had a hole shot in its network coverage plans by inhabitants of the town of Trelleborg. The town has refused to allow 3GIS to erect a radio mast despite the fact that it has already granted permission to a rival 3G operators, namely UMTS-nät AB, a 50/50 venture between Tele2 and Telia.
3GIS claims that without a mast in Trelleborg it cannot fulfil the 99.9% population coverage target set by Sweden’s Post and Telecom Authority for the end of this year. The company is now lobbying the government to intervene in Trelleborg to resolve the situation. The local planning authorities in the coastal Swedish town apparently cited health and environmental concerns as the basis for their decision. Similar local resistance is being experienced by mobile operators in other European markets and is further delaying 3G rollouts.
3GIS was dealt a blow at the end of 2002 when one of its backers Orange Sweden announced its withdrawal from the market. This leaves the remaining partners, Vodafone Europolitan and Hutchison-backed Hi3G, to deploy the national network. The two companies will operate separate competing networks in the major cities of Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo and Karlskrona.
Read the full article at BWCS
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