PERSONA, one of the unsuccessful bidders for the new mobile phone licence, is likely to lodge a complaint with the European Commission in relation to the competition process for the licence.
Industry sources said last night that there was "no doubt" that a complaint would be going to the EU. But a spokesman for the Persona consortium would not confirm that a complaint would be made. He said that Persona's lawyers had been "working on apace" over the weekend to investigate the question of an EU complaint, but that a decision would not be taken until tomorrow's board meeting.
However, the Persona spokesman added that it would be a "high risk strategy" for the Department of Communications to press ahead with signing the licence "with an EU complaint pending".
One telecommunications industry source argued that the Persona consortium, which comprises Motorola, Sigma Wireless, Unisource and ESB International, could also mount an Irish legal challenge. A spokeswoman for Esat Digifone, the consortium which won the licence, declined to make any comment on a possible legal challenge last night. The Government announced that Esat had won the licence last November but the formal signing of the licence is expected to take place within the next few days.
Representatives of Persona's international investors are travelling to Dublin for tomorrow's, specially convened board meeting. Persona has refused to specify the nature of any complaint that it might make to either the EU or an Irish court but the group's chairman, Mr Tony Boyle, has said that it "had concerns about the openness and transparency of the way the competition was conducted".
A spokesman for EU Competition Commissioner, Mr Karel van Miert, has said that he would investigate the competition process if he received a complaint. The Commission said that it had not insisted on any capping of the licence fee in the bid process.
Senior officials at the Department of Communications have said that the decision to cap the licence fee at £15 million was taken by the Irish side after discussions between the department and the Commission.
