TELECOMMUNICATIONS: IRELAND ALLOCATES UMTS LICENCES.

• Position: Hutchison Whampoa - Brief Article

Hong Kong group Hutchison Whampoa came top in the "beauty contest" for Ireland's 3G mobile phone licences, according to a statement by the country's regulator on June 25. The two other candidates for an A licence, covering 80% of the country, were British groups Vodafone and O2 (the brand owned by mmO2, which split from BT in the summer of 2001). Ireland was the last of the European countries to put its UMTS licences up for sale. Hutchison Whampoa's bid was chosen for its ability to hire out its network to other users, for the quality of its services and because it was strong on promotion of competition, said regulator Etain Doyle in a statement. The other selection criteria were speed of roll-out, performance guarantees and site sharing. According to the rules of procedure, Hutchison - the biggest Asian investor in the European telecoms market - must now formally accept the licence. If it fails...