ONE of the unsuccessful bidders for the second mobile phone licence is considering a complaint to the European Commission about the competition process for the licence. The board of Persona is to meet on Tuesday to decide whether or not to proceed.
Persona, which comprises Motorola, Sigma Wireless, Unisource and ESB International, said last night its board had taken a unanimous decision "to instruct its lawyers to investigate the question of a complaint to the EU Commission."
The Persona chairman, Mr Tony Boyle, refused to specify the nature of the possible complaint. But he said the consortium had "concerns about the openness and transparency of the way the competition was conducted."
Persona's decision came after a spokesman for the EU Competition Commissioner, Mr Karel van Miert, said the Commission could investigate the competition process if it received a complaint. It could also initiate its own inquiry, the spokesman added, but had no plans at the moment do so.
Senior officials of the Department of Communications yesterday took the unusual step of holding a press briefing to defend the way in which the licence was granted to the winning group, Esat Digifone.
The secretary of the Department, Mr John Loughrey, described the competition process as "squeaky clean" and "a model of its type". He said the decision to cap the licence fee at £15 million was taken after discussions between the Department and the European Commission, which had been initiated by the Irish side.
However, Persona claimed it had been given the impression, by both the Department and the Minister, that the EU had imposed the cap. This demonstrated the lack of transparency in the process, Persona claims.
The consortium also alleged the Department had gone back on a decision to provide feedback to the unsuccessful bidders.
Fianna Fail has tabled a series of questions asking the Minister, Mr Lowry, to provide the losers with more detailed information and clear up the controversy.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Esat Digifone, Mr Denis O'Brien, challenged the Progressive Democrat TD, Mr Des O'Malley, to repeat without the protection of Dail privilege comments he made about the consortium on Thursday.
"Why doesn't Mr O'Malley make the unfounded allegations out on Kildare Street?" he said.
Mr O'Malley, who was unavailable for comment yesterday, had questioned Esat Digifone's financial capabilities at the Dail Public Accounts Committee.