CEO OF TELE DANMARK HENNING DYREMOSE SPEAKS IN ZURICH.
CEO of Tele Danmark Henning Dyremose gestures at a press conference in
Zurich, November 13, 2000. Switzerland postponed its auction for the
third-generation mobile phone licences just minutes before the start on
Monday after major telecom players rushed to team up and change the face of
the Swiss market. Tele Danmark of Denmark triggered the halt by pulling off
a complicated 2.0 billion US dollar deal just before a Sunday night deadline
for changing alliances in the runup to the auction of Universal Mobile
Telecommunication System licences. Tele Danmark obtained majority stakes in
both Sunrise and Diax and planned to merge the two into the 'undisputed
number two' after state-controlled Swisscom.
SIB/HM/