February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Andrew Bushe
DUBLIN – An Irish-U.S. consortium, Meteor Mobile Communications, has beaten the British company Orange Communications Limited to take the licence for the third Irish mobile phone licence
Meteor has promised a fast rollout of its network to be up and running within nine months.
Orange already has a franchise in Northern Ireland and had been regarded as the front-runner for the new licence in the Republic.
Meteor was successful after an extensive evaluation assisted by mobile phone specialists Andersen Management International of Copenhagen.
Director of Telecommunications Regulation Etian Doyle said the licence would mean consumer benefits through lower prices.
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The licence will be the first combined DCS/GSM service and she expected the majority of subscribers would use dual-band phones.
Meteor is required to provide coverage of at least a third of the population within two years.
An 80 percent population coverage – equivalent to a geographic coverage of 50 to 60 percent – is required within four years.
Both applicants bid the maximum amount of _10 million in respect of the spectrum access charge in the licence. There was also a _1.5 million administrative charge.
Meteor is 60 percent owned by U.S. company Western Wireless, based in Seattle, with Irish company RF Communications holding 30 percent and a Seattle consultancy, the Walter Group, having the remaining 10.
Meteor says it will spend at least _200 million and create 600 jobs.