The imminent sale of Cablelink was one of the factors holding up the Atomic Ireland project, Sir Bob Geldof said last night at a Marketing Society function in Dublin.
He said that while in the short term the sale of the cable company, jointly owned by Telecom Eireann and RTE, was a hindrance to launching the commercial music TV channel, "in the medium term it was a great asset".
Cablelink, with over 330,000 subscribers, cable networks in Dublin, Galway and Waterford, and microwave (MMDS) systems in Dublin, Galway, Mayo and Waterford, has an estimated price tag of £140 million. But it is thought that as much again in investment would be required to upgrade it to the digital TV and multi-media age. "If somebody said that all the obstacles were clear I would give you a 12-week date from now," Sir Bob said, when asked about when he expected to see the project underway.
He is one of three directors of Planet 24 which is introducing indigenous forms of the Atomic project in European countries. Atomic Poland is running while Atomic Romania would be operational in September, he said, while heads of agreement had been signed "with a big European country" last week.
"We will have two others in Europe by the end of this year. Again, the downside of doing this now is that, in Ireland, we ran into confusion. That took sorting out."
He added that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, and the Minister for Public Enterprise, Mrs O'Rourke, were "extremely positive" and "actively helpful".
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