State-owned communications regulator, ComReg last year recorded a bumper surplus of €181.13m on the back of the sale of 5G licences.
The 2023 annual report for ComReg shows that ComReg recorded a surplus of €181.13m for the 12 months to the end of June last which was more than a seven fold increase on the surplus of €25.76m for 2022.
ComReg recorded the surge in earnings on the back of Spectrum Income of €163m received in January 2023.
In the Electronic Communications Spectrum licence sale, the winning bidders were Imagine, Eir, Three and Vodafone.
The accounts show that €180m of the ComReg surplus is payable to central government funds leaving Comreg with a zero surplus post appropriations when other minor appropriations are taken into account.
ComReg had total revenues of €225.7m last year which was almost a four fold increase on the revenues of €65.8m for 2022.
Along with the Spectrum revenues of €163m, the 2023 revenues also included €24.58m from the sale of 4G Liberalised Use Licensing Fees; €22.7m from the sale of 'Other Radio Licensing Fees' and €5m from the sale of 3G Radio Licensing Fees.
The accounts also show that staff at ComReg shared bonus payments of €1.1m last year.
The annual report shows that staff shared €1.1m in performance related pay or 8pc of total pay costs for the 12 months.
This compares to bonus payments of €1.067m for 2022.
A note attached to the accounts states that the €1.1m in performance related pay is in accordance with the provisions of the performance related remuneration scheme and the terms of the staff members' contracts of employment.
Overall pay costs to staff at ComReg in the 12 months to the end of June 2022 increased to €16.27m and the annual report shows that chairperson, Robert Murik’s remuneration totalled €199,000 and Commissioner, Garrett Blaney’s remuneration amounted to €181,000.
The accounts show that 50 members of staff earned one €100,000 last year including four who earned over €230,000 and one other earning between €200,000 and €210,000.
Numbers employed at ComReg last year increased from 144 to 149.
Legal costs incurred by ComReg last year increased from €3.24m to €4.84m made up of legal advice costing €1.4m and costs from legal proceedings costing €3.4m.
The regulator’s overall costs last year increased to €44.58 million and its costs included 'Technical Advice Costs’ of €11m that included €9m for professional and technical advice and €628,000 on market research.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan
