Almost €20m wiped off Smart value as regulator withdraws 3G licence

SHARES in Smart Telecom lost as much as a fifth of their value yesterday after the Communications Regulator withdrew its offer of a third-generation mobile-phone licence from the company.

Smart rushed to the High Court to secure an injunction against ComReg, but its shares fell by 20% at one point yesterday before ending the day down 16.5%. Nearly €20 million was wiped off the firm’s market value. Smart was awarded the final third generation mobile licence last November ahead of Eircom.

Since then, Smart had agreed to pay almost €57m for the licence and has been working on a package to pay for a 3G network. Late last year it raised more than €55m from investors, including the Murtagh family (of building materials’ company Kingspan).