The Department of trade and Industry has been in talks with the five 3G mobile phone networks to discuss reductions in set-up costs.

The networks - BT Cellnet, Vodafone, One2One, Orange, and the new Hutchison 3G - collectively spent £22.5 billion at the auction of the 3G licences last year. Now, they are hoping for help from the government as these networks are built, since this is expected to cost a further £25 billion.

The European Commission became involved last month, encouraging member states to smooth the transition to the third generation mobile phone networks, which have encouraged hopes of financial aid to the companies. However, a DTI spokesperson has denied that this aid has been the subject of the talks.