Beauty contest licensing lessons from the 3G process in Sweden

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the economic context of the Third Generation Mobile Communication Licensing process carried out in Sweden. The discussion of the mobile licensing process has been very much centred on auctions. However, beauty contests to award UMTS-licences were implemented by a relatively large number of countries. This article investigates the implications of the beauty contest as the method for selecting 3G licence holders in Sweden. This study was prepared at the Stockholm School of Economics as part of a series of Telecommunication Case Studies produced at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).