It initially broadcast to the Jakarta area from Jabodetabek as a local pay television channel and was awarded a nationwide license one year later.

Some of this spectrum is in the form of nationwide licenses and some is not.

In the process, it gave the company a "pioneer's preference" that entitles it to a potentially valuable nationwide license.

Licensees pay a small fee for a nationwide, non-exclusive license.

Because the companies offering paging services generally do so on a regional basis, the prospect of new nationwide licenses is particularly attractive to the bidders.

Agency officials said they planned to begin the first auctions for the nationwide licenses this summer.

Though the company is the smallest of Britain's four cellular carriers, it has a nationwide license and has been growing rapidly.

The sale covered 10 nationwide licenses, which are expected to be used for advanced two-way paging services.

A rich company or group of companies could bid for a nationwide license by combining bids for a license in each region.

But the commission decided last September against handing out nationwide licenses.