Six consortia have lodged bids of up to ú15m each for the Republic of Ireland’s second mobile phone licence, due to be awarded by the end of November. The Groupe Speciale Mobile licence will run for a period of 15 years, according to the state’s Ministry of Communications. Five of the six had already signalled their interest, but a surprise bid was entered by the Irish Mobicall group. This comprises San Antonio, Texas-based SBC Communications Corp, formerly Southwestern Bell Telephone Co, Deutsche Telekom AG and the Danish phone company Tele Danmark A/S. The others are Cellstar Corp, Esat Digiphone, Europhone; Irish Cellular Telephones; and Unisource BV-backed Persona Plc. The Department of Communications, which has hired the Danish company Andersen Management International to advise it, has been forced to set a ú15m ceiling on the bids by the intervention of the European Commission. Most of the consortia are thought to have bid the maximum allowed, but the Irish Times hears that many would have been prepared to go to around ú30m had there been no restriction. An estimated ú100m will also be needed to establish a second network to compete with the existing mobile operator, Telecom Eireann’s Eircell. All the groups bidding for the licence said the price of calls and mobile phones will fall dramatically when the new licence is issued. Four key factors will be used to help select the winning bid: how quickly the service can be put into operation, coverage, tariffs and market development. Meanwhile, Unisource has announced that it intends to locate a back office op-eration in Ireland, and will create about 250 jobs.
