WAYNE, Pa.-A month before the tender application deadline, Comcast Corp. announced its Comcast International Holdings Inc. subsidiary will head a consortium bidding a second cellular license in Ireland.
Comcast will own a 65 percent stake in the venture. Irish partners are Radio Telefis Eireann, a National Broadcasting Service company; Bord Na Mona, an energy, horticulture and environmental group; and GCI Ltd., a new communications company lead by Declan Ganley.
For more than a year, Comcast said it has been working closely with its partners, devising plans to “construct an infrastructure that will support the newest and most comprehensive cellular technology available in the world today.”
In March, an Irish Cabinet subcommittee approved launching the public tender competition for a second network, a move required by the European Union but one that has been delayed more than a year.
Government-owned Eircell, Telecom Eirann’s mobile phone subsidiary, is Ireland’s existing cellular provider. The second license is valued between $32 million and $80 million and may demand an initial $48 million to begin operations. Though Eircell did not pay for its license, both providers may pay $1.2 million yearly to use the licenses.
