Broadnet Ireland Ltd has challenged an Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation decision refusing it a Fixed Wireless Point to Multipoint Access (FWMPA) licence. In the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Smyth granted leave to Broadnet, of Northumberland Road, Dublin, to take judicial review proceedings aimed at quashing the decision.
The telecommunications company is also seeking an order quashing a decision which did not rank Broadnet as one of the first four applicants in a competition for broadband FWPMA licences. Declarations are also being sought that the competition was void and that Eircom was not entitled to be ranked above Broadnet.
Broadnet claimed the competition appeared not to have been objectively evaluated. It alleged it had been predetermined that Eircom would obtain one of the four licences on offer.
In an affidavit presented to the court by Mr Frank Clarke SC, for Broadnet, Mr Declan Ganley, of Ganley International, Tuam, said he was a director of Broadnet.
Last February the director invited applications for the right to provide and operate FWPMA services within Ireland for a period of 10 years. Broadnet Ireland was a wholly owned subsidiary of BroadNet Holdings BV, which planned to establish a pan-European network of wireless broadband technology and services.
Last September 21st, the director notified Broadnet that it had not been ranked in the first four applicants. It appeared from a press release that Eircom was one of the higher-ranked applicants.
On February 3rd, the director notified Broadnet she had decided to refuse it a FWPMA broadband licence. The director included a 27-page document which purported to be a statement of reasons for her decision to refuse Broadnet a licence.
Mr Ganley said that, while the statement of reasons was lengthy, it did not permit Broadnet to know whether the evaluation process was carried out in a reasonable fashion.
A newspaper article on January 20th headlined "Regulator denies bias in award of licences" caused him alarm, Mr Ganley said.