Western Wireless, the leading investor in mobile group Meteor, says Ireland has the worst planning system of the 11 countries in which the company has built networks, a list that includes countries like Bolivia, Haiti, Croatia and the Ivory Coast.
One example of the difficulties the company has encountered was having a planning application returned by a local authority because one of the maps was folded incorrectly.
Notwithstanding this, Pete Quinn, European head of Western Wireless, says Meteor now has over 70,000 subscribers and is on track to exceed its target of 100,000 customers by the end of February.
Western Wireless has an 80% stake in Meteor and has invested over £120m in developing the group.
