The consortium headed by Vodafone Group Plc has been awarded the franchise to operate Australia’s third mobile telephone network. The Arena GSM consortium, which also includes AAP Telecommunications Pty Ltd, in which MCI Communications Corp is also an investor, will pay the government $96.5m for the licence. Arena will promote Australian industry and intends to achieve 70% local content on its capital expenditure of $276m, the government said. Operations will start from September, and it will compete with the two existing carriers, Optus Communications Pty Ltd and the state-owned Australian & Overseas Telecommunications Corp. No other mobile phone operator will be licensed before 1997. Arena will use Vodafone’s Micro Cellular Network technology and will establish Asia-Pacific headquarters in Australia, creating 5,000 jobs.
