In the coming years the communications industry is taking a big step forward by introducing third generation mobile communications solutions. The development of the mobile market is extremely important for the new economy and e-commerce in the future. That is why I am somewhat worried about the auctioning of the licences for the third generation mobile systems. The prices of the 3G licences in many countries have risen remarkably high. In practice auction fees can bee seen as a form of taxation that inevitably will affect the prices the end user pays.
High prices are a real hindrance to the use and spreading up of new services.
Auction fees also favour an unhealthy competition and concentration phenomenon, because only the biggest companies can afford to bid and pay. The result will be that the market will be dominated by huge multinationals, services will not differentiate and the needs for small and special markets will not be met. Mr. President, Information society has been a priority for the Finnish government almost ten years know. I will tell more about the Finnish information society and the ICT markets in Finland in my presentation this afternoon. At this stage I would like to draw your attention to the problems on digital divide.