4G roll-out to boost State’s coffers by €855m

The exchequer is to receive an €855m boost — half of which will be realised by the end of this year — from the country’s leading telecommunications operators upgrading their networks to 4G (fourth generation) standards.

Yesterday’s multiband-spectrum auction — carried out by industry regulator ComReg — saw Vodafone, Telefónica/O2, Eircom, and 3 spend millions on enhancing their capabilities through the effective renting of new bandwidth that will allow them to offer improved and faster mobile phone and broadband services.

While industry leader Vodafone invested the most at nearly €161m on new ‘spectrum rights’ (O2 spent nearly €125m, Eircom €145m, and 3 over €51m), each player said they will now be in a position to roll out 4G services next year, giving customers connection speeds roughly four times faster than existing 3G services.