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Ireland's Telecoms Regulator launches 3G Competitiondate: December 18, 2001 The ODTR today launched the competition for the selection of 3G mobile phone licences. Four 20 year licences will be awarded. It is expected that the highest ranked applicants for the licences will be announced in June 2002. The successful licensees should begin to rollout service by January 2004. In Ireland four 3G mobile licences, one 'A' and three 'B' licences with differing terms, will be offered by means of a comparative evaluation process ("beauty contest"). The 3 B licences provide for a minimum of coverage of the five major cities (53%) and somewhat slower minimum roll-out conditions compared with the A licence. The A licence provides for 80% population coverage and potentially extra spectrum to carry MVNO services. This structure provides an opportunity for potential bidders to propose alternative ways of entering the 3G market here. Bidders for the A licence will be invited to offer access for MVNOs and will be offered additional spectrum on the basis of justifiable demand to support the MVNO requirement. Additional spectrum will also be offered to new market entrants in order to level the playing field with incumbent operators who will have an inherent advantage in rolling out 3G networks. Those who already have a GSM network will be obliged to provide national roaming facilities to new entrants on their networks. The Telecoms Regulator is keen to encourage site and mast sharing and where possible to ensure that these new services can be rolled out speedily and with a minimal environmental impact. Additional marks will be awarded for such commitments. The Regulator will also look favourably on proposals for infrastructure sharing which may be made by licensed operators subsequent to award of licence, provided they can operate their services independently and do not infringe competition law. According to the Telecoms Regulator "following the conclusion of discussions with the Minister for Finance I am pleased that we have agreed the spectrum access fee structure for the 3G licences. Taking account of market conditions and the expenditures involved in rollout and development of services, an innovative fee structure has been devised. There will be an upfront payment followed by a moratorium of 3 to 5 years and with deferred payments over the 4th to 15th of the 20 year licence period."] The overall spectrum access fee is €27 million (£ 21 million) for the "A" license and € 74 million (£58 million) for the "B" license using the standard industry discount rate of 9%. The upfront fee for the A Licence is € 12.7 million (£10 million) and for the B licence is € 44.4 million (£35 million). There is then a moratorium of 5 and 3 years respectively on the A and B licenses to take account of network build and the need for market development. Nominal spectrum access fees will be € 50.7m (£40 million) for the "A" licence and €114. 3 m (£ 90 Million) for the "B" licence, with payments spread out up to year 15. All applicants can submit applications for either or both the A licence and the B licence. However each applicant can take up only one licence and the applicants will be required to prioritise their applications. The differentiation in the fees reflects the greater cost to the A licensee of rolling out its network to meet the coverage and time constraints compared to the minimum requirements for the B licences. Only applicants that meet the formal and minimum requirements specified in the tender documents will be able to proceed to the comparative evaluation stage. The evaluation will be in accordance with the dimensions outlined and weighted. The closing date for receipt of applications will be 27th March 2002. Four Licences to Provide 3G Services in Ireland - Information Notice, click here
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