Western Wireless' Irish unit faces challenges, opportunity: content with its No. 3 status in Ireland, Western Wireless unit still adds subscribers and makes money.(Western Wireless International Corp.)

Wireless Week, April, 2005 by Gohring, Nancy

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Meteor, the Western Wireless International subsidiary offering mobile phone service in Ireland, got off to a rocky start. When the regulatory authority in Ireland awarded a 2G license to Meteor in a beauty contest in 1998, Orange, which had also vied for the license, challenged the award. A series of subsequent lawsuits ultimately supported the regulator's decision, but delayed the actual award of the license to Meteor until 2000. By the time Meteor launched in 2001, its competitors--Vodafone and O2--already had managed to attract nearly 70 percent of the population as subscribers.

As if the cards weren't already stacked against it, Meteor also has taken the unusual strategy of betting against 3G. Instead of bidding on a 3G license, the...

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