Some time ago, it became clear that the battle for the five new generation mobile licences in Britain was rapidly becoming a case of who would blink first rather than a rational judgment of the worth of the licences themselves. Eircom bowed out of the process with the bidding for the licence it most sought - Licence A - exceeding £2.1 billion sterling. That licence is the largest and most sophisticated of those on offer, as well as being open only to companies without an existing market presence in the British mobile market. It's not often one feels sympathy for our hapless telecoms giant. When bidding opened, it was thought each of the five licences would attract bids for up to £1 billion. All have topped £2 billion with the one sought by Eircom racing ahead to £2.46 billion as it withdrew. Hardly surprising that a company with a worth of £8 billion found the price a bit rich, especially as the price is merely for the licence with a further £2 billion investment likely to be needed to roll out the service, which will enable phones to offer more sophisticated Internet functions.