Proposal to Extend 3G Licences is Unfair - Claims BT
British Telecom has recently sent a letter to the Business Secretary of the British government threatening to take judicial action against it. It is anguished by the proposal of the government to extend the existing 3G licenses indefinitely. This the government is doing in exchange of the companies extending broadband services to different areas where there is no broadband facility currently. In other words, the government is seeking to make use of their resources to complete the Digital Britain project before elections.
BT has opposed the proposal as unfair, unjust and as a barrier to the new companies who will not be able to function as they will not get any license. It has claimed that the government should give up this proposal and should do a normal public sale in which everyone interested is invited. The current proposal takes away a large amount of revenue from the State coffers and will amount to giving public money to companies.
In order to further argue its point, BT has also contact BIS which has increased the period of negotiation for another month as it is not convinced with the government proposal either.
This has got the companies worried. Their license expires in 2012 and this proposal would have been really beneficial for them. However, if the decision is taken by February, the government will have no time to enact a law to implement it as it will be too close to election and will be campaigning for it. They would like the deed to be done now but BT is opposing the move which is considers patently unfair.
For more information on 3G internet, or the mobile broadband providers, look at mobile.broadbandgenie.co.uk. There is useful information on wireless mobile broadband; it is worth a look at the website for and their comparative table of broadband
