While the UK Office of Telecommunications was setting its seal on the new regulatory regime under which British Telecommunications Plc must operate (see page five), the Department of Trade & Industry was yesterday moved to open up the UK telephony market to much broader competition, announcing that following successful completion of a two-month consultation phase, four companies would be granted licences to compete with British Telecom and Mercury Communications Ltd. Two are terrestrial operators – the WorldCom International Inc unit of TeleColumbus AG, which is in process of being sold to IDB Communications Group Inc of Los Angeles, and National Network Ltd, the company set up to exploit the UK Post Office’s telecommunications network; and two are radio operators – Ionica L3 Ltd, which does not want to talk about its technology, and the Millicom (Holdings) Ltd arm of Millicom Inc, New York. Millicom has been told that as a Public Telecommunications Operator, it is to be allowed to share 168MHz within the 3.7GHz to 4.2GHz frequency band with existing users. Its target is small and medium-sized businesses with fewer than 30 lines, and residential customers and it plans to use Broadband Code Division Multiple Access cellular technology, starting a service in 1994 with access to the majority of homes and businesses by the end of the decade. Ionica, with similar plans has provisionally been allocated two 13MHz segments between 3.425GHz and 3.5GHz. The licences allow the holders to build fixed networks throughout the UK and to offer international services over links leased from other operators. Further licences are still being considered. Hutchison Paging Ltd and the 13 regional Band III radio operators were also licensed for expanded services.
