An appeal against the quashing of the Director of Telecommunications Regulations decision to award the State's third mobile phone licence to Meteor Communications will be heard by the Supreme Court early next year.

The Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hamilton, yesterday said the five-judge court would hear the appeal on January 18th - on condition all the parties adhere to deadlines for handling in legal submissions and other documents to the court prior to that date.

Failure to do so would result in the court not treating the matter as urgent, he warned.

The court heard the director, Ms Etain Doyle, has submitted 169 grounds of appeal, and Meteor has filed 120 grounds, against a decision of Ms Justice Macken in the High Court earlier this month quashing the director's decision awarding the third licence to Meteor.

The director's decision had been challenged by the British telecommunications company Orange Communications Limited.

In her 247-page judgment on the 50-day hearing, Ms Justice Macken found the director's decision was objectively biased and unreasonable. She also found as a fact that draft reports from the evaluators of applicants for the licence were altered to generate a result which could "readily be perceived to be biased" in favour of Meteor and against Orange.

In the Supreme Court yesterday, Mr Michael Collins SC said he and Mr Dermot Gleeson SC had been asked to represent Orange at the appeal hearing as the company's senior counsel in the High Court, Mr Michael McDowell, had been appointed Attorney General.

Mr Collins drew the court's attention to the large amount of documents in the case, including the transcript of the lengthy High Court hearing, and expressed some concern about ability to be ready for an early appeal hearing. He added it was his view the appeal would take at least 10 to 12 days and not five as suggested.

Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, for the director, said he deduced Mr Collins was seeking a January hearing. All the parties faced the same difficulties as outlined by Mr Collins but the director wanted the earliest possible date because of the continuing breach of the obligation to grant a third mobile phone licence and the ongoing problems for the work of her office. It was a matter "of compelling urgency".

Mr Michael Cush SC, for Meteor, said his clients also wanted the earliest possible date.