A further delay in the operation of a third mobile phone licence is likely after the High Court appeal by Orange against the decision to grant the licence to Meteor Mobile Communications was deferred yesterday until March.

In a separate but related development, the application by the Director of Telecommunications Regulation, Ms Etain Doyle, for an interim mobile phone licence to be granted to Meteor pending the outcome of the appeal by Orange, was rejected by Meteor.

In a legal document seen by The Irish Times, Ms Doyle cited that she applied for the interim licence "in the public interest".

However, Ms Doyle's application was opposed by Meteor "on the basis requested by the ODTR [Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation]". It is understood that Meteor, which originally hoped to be operational by April, 1999, was opposed to two of the conditions attached to the granting of the interim licence.

The first of these was that in the event that the licence should ultimately be granted to Orange, the subscriber base built up by Meteor would be transferred without cost.

The second condition was that if Orange won the licence, Meteor would receive back on a pro rata basis "for the length of time for which the second defendant [Meteor] enjoyed the interim licence", the agreed spectrum access fee and administrative costs.