[European competition commissioner would like to have next round of 3G licensing to have "some level of harmonisation."]

by James Harding and Dan Roberts, London -- "Europe should move towards coordinated rules for the sale of the next generation of telecommunications licences to avoid the distortions created by the last round of national auctions, according to Mario Monti, European competition commissioner.

"Licences to provide third generation mobile phone services were sold for more than E100bn ($88bn) last year using different allocation methods, which brought some operators to the brink of bankruptcy.

"Mr Monti, speaking in an interview, said several telecoms companies had since complained to him that different "auctions and beauty contests" for the 3G licences had resulted in vastly different 3G costs and an uneven playing field within the single market.

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