Let the games begin!
The past week’s events have all been somewhat overshadowed
by the battle of the giants just about to commence. No, I am not talking about
the Olympic games. Rather, I am referring to the allocation of licenses to
operate third generation mobile telephony (3g). However, the word ‘telephony’
is slightly misused in this instance: The matter to be settled by Swedish
authorities is which operators will be permitted to provide mobile Internet
services on the prestigious Swedish market.
The deadline for application for the sought-after licenses
was last Friday (September 1), 3pm. By then, representatives from the ten
candidate consortia – including Swedish incumbents Telia and international competitors Sonera, T-Mobile
International (Deutsche Telecom)
and Orange - gathered outside the
Post & Telecommunications Agency in Stockholm to hand in their paperwork.
Some skeptics scorned the technologically adept applicants for not submitting
their bids by e-mail. Nevertheless - bearing media attention in mind - the
industry opted for party publicity, rather than electronic efficiency.
As always, Swedish Internet access agitator and media magnet
Jonas Birgersson (CEO, Bredbandsbolaget) stole the show. He
showed up at the gathering in an impeccably shiny 1935 Volvo - wearing his
trademark fleece sweater, of course – followed by a WW2 full-sized truck loaded
with a box, containing his consortium’s application. Birgersson’s competitors,
it seems, are now getting more and more intimidated by his antics. “There ARE
other players on the market, you know”, one antagonist sourly commented.
Another hot contender for the coveted ‘IT-guru du jour’
title is Alexander Bard. Mostly
known as a pop icon in bands such as Army of Lovers, he is currently focusing
his efforts on new media ventures and analyzing the societal implications of
Internet. In line with this, he is co-authoring a book about ‘netocracy’: A
societal model where Internet proficient ‘netocrats’ will constitute a new
ruling class. The focus on The New Sociology, rather than The New Economy has
attracted a new set of people to the cyber scene: At the release party on
Thursday August 31 the Internet entrepreneurs of Stockholm were coupled with
various black-clad social critics, ordinarily moderately interested in Internet
issues.
A more traditional blend of people attended the Cypoint launch party: 400 members of
the Internet/New media and Venture Capital community turned out to celebrate
the merger of WebTeknik, E-Zone and Bobby United into one solid unit. In the process, the partygoers
got to see stand-up comedian Fredrik
Lindstrom and R&B queen Titiyo
perform. The venue was the hangout of choice for many a new media entrepreneur
- Grodan Sergel, on the bottom floor
of the so-called High-Tech building, home of several Stockholm dotcoms.
Generally, the past week’s Stockholm scene was characterized
by a certain friskiness, possibly fueled by recent reports resurrecting the
concept of Internet retailing. That same mindset was very much present at the Cypoint party. Thus, when local techno
heroes Antiloop stepped to the
turntables, the crowd allowed itself to assertively enter the dance floor and
what proves to be a promising fall…
