The British-style auction of third-generation mobilephone licences in Ireland would represent a fundamental mistake by the Government, according to Mr Nicholas Negroponte, chief executive and chairman of MIT's Media Lab Europe.

Mr Negroponte said the Government should look for companies which could provide a universal service at the lowest cost possible to the consumer when auctioning licences. Speaking at the Information Society Commission conference on e-learning, he said that although the British government was pleased with the $35 million (€37.6 million) it had raised for UMTS licences and it appeared that other European countries such as France and Germany would follow, it was an awful mistake.

Mr Negroponte said the money paid for the licences was unsustainable and that it would impede access to third-generation mobile communications because the companies would target the high end of the market to recover their outlay.

This would cause serious damage to universal access and he said he hoped that the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, wouldn't follow that route and would choose companies that offered affordable access to everybody.

Mr Negroponte confirmed that Media Lab Europe would be located on the top floor of the Hop Store in Guinness's and said that MIT had been recruiting candidates. It was still seeking people in universities in Ireland and all over Europe for the lab.

Personnel at the lab, due to open in one month, will be divided equally between the Republic, the US and Europe. Staff would rise to 200 people in the next five years.

One of the reasons MIT decided to locate the Medialab here was the healthy disrespect for authority Irish people had. It was important to allow people to question things.

Mr Negroponte said Third World countries would become very active on the Internet and that statisticians consistently underestimated the level of activity there. He envisaged Latin American countries becoming digital soon and they would leapfrog slow adopters like Austria.