ComReg cans plans for mobile TV licence

Ireland’s national telecoms regulator the Commission for Communication Regulation (ComReg) has announced it is abandoning plans to issue a mobile broadcast TV licence covering five urban areas, saying that following a consultation period, ‘it became apparent to ComReg that use of the identified spectrum to provide a mobile TV service in Ireland was not the subject of particularly strong interest to potential operators, and interest in the proposed procedure to grant the authorisation diminished.’ It is understood the regulator received just one expression of interest – from Vodafone Ireland – which agrees with the decision not to go ahead with the licensing process. Despite the setback, ComReg will ‘keep under review the potential for the identification of spectrum which would enable the award of dedicated licences for mobile TV,’ adding that in future, technology-neutral awards of UHF spectrum could be used for mobile broadcast TV.