Switzerland has postponed its planned auction of four next-generation mobile phone licences after the withdrawal of candidates left only four bidders in the race.

The auction for third-generation licences was set to start this morning, but the Swiss federal office of communications said it has decided to postpone the sale while it investigates the withdrawal of candidates.

The Swiss government said the postponement follows news that two of the five contenders for the licences have announced plans to merge. The number of bidders has already been reduced to five from 10 following the withdrawal of key players last week.

Swiss telecoms company Sunrise Communications, of which BT is a major shareholder, and Diax Holdings announced plans to merge on Sunday under the direction of Tele Danmark. The Sunrise bid for a licence was then withdrawn, leaving just four bidders in the race.

In a statement the Swiss Federal Communications Office (Bakom) said it will investigate whether there were "any indications that unlawful agreements were made" after the number of bidders in the auction dropped to match the number of licenses on offer.

The four remaining companies in the race for the licences are dSpeed AG, an associate of Diax Holdings, Orange Communications SA, Swisscom AG, and Team 3G (Telefonica).

Bakom said it will examine whether to proceed with the auction with only these companies or allocate the licences to the four remaining bidders. Decisions on the next steps should be made by December.

In the UK, the auction of next-generation licences attracted heavy criticism after it generated bids of more than £22bn.

See also:

Radio spectrum auction fails to tune in

This week's auction of fixed spectrum radio licences was an embarrassing debacle. So what went wrong?  24 Nov 2000

Orange pulls out of radio spectrum auction

UK mobile operator Orange has pulled out of the government's auction for fixed radio spectrum licences, which has already been delayed until further notice.  16 Oct 2000

Users 'will not pay for high 3G costs'

Mobile phone customers will not bear the brunt of the hefty prices paid for next-generation mobile phone licences, leading industry players have claimed.  12 Oct 2000

Radio spectrum auction delayed

The UK government has decided to delay the fixed wireless radio spectrum auction, which was due to begin next Monday, to allow it to review applicants in more detail.  10 Oct 2000

Telcos admit fears over 3G licences

Telecoms operators have admitted that their £68bn investment in third-generation mobile technology could end in "disaster" because services won't live up to the hype.  28 Sep 2000

EU to get tough with 3G operators

Third-generation mobile operators face tough scrutiny from the European Commission and won't be allowed to overcharge for services, despite the high prices paid for licences.  28 Sep 2000

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