News that British Telecommunications would not be in the running for the third fixed telecom license in Spain was followed yesterday by confirmation from France Telecom that it will launch a joint bid as part of a consortium it will set up with cable TV operator Cableuropa, as expected.
The consortium, known as Lince, will be majority-owned by France Telecom, while Cableuropa will have a one percent stake which may be increased to 16%.
Other members of the consortium include Editel – a holding company including Banco de Santander with 51%; Multitel Cable (24.5%) and Ferrovial Telecommunicaciones (24.%) – which has 30%.
Earlier on Thursday, BT said it would not be bidding for the third license. According to BT it is waiting for full deregulation of the market in December. BT will concentrate on developing its investments in Spain which include BT Telecomunicaciones, the fixed line business, and Airtel, the mobile operator, said Sir Peter Bonfield, BT CEO. Our goal is to establish ourselves as an effective operator in Spain ahead of full liberalization of the Spanish telecoms market in December 1998.
