ComReg confirms Court of Appeal ruling will allow it to run multi-band spectrum auction

Ireland’s Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) has announced that the Court of Appeal has made an order varying a stay on the implementation of the country’s planned multi-band spectrum auction, with this decision allowing the regulator to now progress the sale process.

In a press release regarding the matter, ComReg revealed that the Court of Appeal made an order on 8 November altering a stay which had previously been granted by the country’s High Court back in July 2022, following an appeal lodged against the spectrum sale by local cellco Three Ireland. Now, according to the Court of Appeal’s ruling, ComReg will be permitted to proceed to the ‘Main Stage’ of the multi-band spectrum award (i.e. the auction itself), although the regulator will notably be prevented from ‘notifying the winning bidders of their entitlement to apply for licences’, pending a final determination regarding the matter from the courts.

As a result of the Court of Appeals’ order, ComReg has confirmed it is now progressing the main stage of its spectrum sale process.