Vodafone seeks change to terms of €114m 3G licence

Vodafone Ireland, the State's largest mobile phone company, has asked the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) to consider a relaxation of the conditions attached to its third-generation (3G) mobile licence.

The firm's chief executive, Mr Paul Donovan, said yesterday that Vodafone had contacted the chairwoman of ComReg, Ms Etain Doyle, to discuss the issue.

Vodafone would like to loosen the terms of the €114 million licence so its spending could fall more into line with demand for 3G services.

Under the terms of the licence, Vodafone is required to offer 3G services from the start of next year. The company does not expect demand for 3G services to "crystalise" until the end of 2004 or the start of 2005, however.

"I am disappointed that we should be operating in a regulatory environment that obliges operations to invest in the technology ahead of a predictable return," Mr Donovan said.

"Almost every other regulator around Europe, seeing the situation that prevailed in industry, took the step of reducing the conditions placed on mobile operators. The Irish regulator chose specifically not to do so," he added.

A spokeswoman for ComReg said last night that "there is no question of licence conditions, including roll-out, being altered". The spokeswoman dismissed suggestions that the majority of European regulators had already relaxed their 3G requirements.

"The exceptions were where the launch dates were far in advance of network equipment being available," she said.

Vodafone also confirmed yesterday that it had "absolutely no plans" to open its rural network to the State's smallest mobile operator, Meteor, which is seeking to expand its coverage through deals with competing providers.

Meteor has asked ComReg to intervene in negotiations with Vodafone and O2 on the issue. Mr Donovan said he saw no reason why Vodafone should assist Meteor in this way. "Perhaps they should push on with delivering basic levels of services," he said.

On existing mobile services, Mr Donovan said Vodafone would make "interesting announcements" on roaming charges over the summer. He was speaking at the launch of Vodafone's new "plug and play" mobile data service for business users.