For instance, the sale of AIG's Asian businesses (AIA) was announced in October and financial details were supposed to be available to bidders by the end of that month.

That may sound like a lot, but it is a fraction of the sum raised by similar auctions in Europe in 2000 and 2001, when bidders were still beguiled by visions of wireless nirvana.

Promises being made by some bidders to begin extraction within 18 months are regarded as unreliable and even irresponsible by foreign experts.