Chorus, the Irish communications company, has been re-admitted to the UK auction for broadband fixed wireless licences following an appeal to Mr Stephen Byers, the UK secretary of state for trade and industry .
The decision will enable the company, which is jointly owned by Independent News & Media and Liberty Media, to compete in the auction which begins on November 10th. Chorus traded as Irish Multichannel until recently and provides cable and telecommunications services.
Ten bidders will now compete for licences to deliver Internet and multimedia services over radio waves in 14 UK regions in the auction. The auction is predicted to net millions for the UK exchequer.
According to Chorus, the UK Radio-communication Agency originally excluded the company last Thursday when it learned that a Chorus shareholder, Liberty Media, also held a stake in a rival bidder Priority Wireless (UK).
Although Priority Wireless later decided to withdraw from the contest, Chorus was deemed to have breached one of the auction rules designed to prevent collusion between rival bidders and was excluded.
But last night a DTI spokesman confirmed Mr Byers had reversed the decision to exclude Chorus following representations made by the company.
"The secretary of state reconsidered all the circumstances of the case and decided to restate Chorus," the spokesman said.
Chorus will now compete for one of three fixed wireless broadband licences in Northern Ireland when the UK auction begins, says Mr Willie Fagan, managing director of Chorus.
"It makes perfect sense for us to develop a wireless infrastructure on an all-Ireland basis," said Mr Fagan. "We will now be involved in a shoot-out with other bidders for that licence."
Mr Fagan said the original exclusion from the auction occurred due to "communication difficulties" between Chorus and the other bidder. "Perhaps we could have handled it better," he added.
The firm will face competition from Eircom and Formus Communications and possibly other bidders interested in the Northern Ireland region which has the lowest reserve licence price of only £100,000 sterling (€171,174).
The re-admission of Chorus will give the fixed wireless broadband auction a much needed boost. Two contestants have already withdrawn from the auction leading to speculation that the licences will not raise as much cash as originally forecast by the British government.
The highest reserve licence price of some £4 million is in the London region. Three licences are available in 11 regions throughout England while the same number of licences are available in the three regions Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
