Licenses have been issued for two new mobile phone operators on the island.

One is Cable & Wireless International who already operates a cross-Island telecom link. The other operator is Wire9 Telecom, who, through its Manx subsidiary Cloud9 Mobile Communications, will be introducing a new mobile service with local Internet Service Providers (ISPs).
The firm says mobile telephones will transfer to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) when near WiFi hotspots. Wire9 is currently developing converged telecommunications and associated services in the United Kingdom and Gibraltar.

Cable & Wireless already provides mobile phone services in the Channel Islands.

Lee Jones, Chief Executive Officer of Cloud9 says the agreement marks the beginning of a global roll-out of mobile networks."

Communications Commission Chairman, John Shimmin MHK says that Manx customers will now have real choice and that Cable & Wireless and Wire9 will provide a challenge for the incumbent operator, Manx Telecom, in a fully competitive market.”

Following telecommunications licensing by the Communications Commission, licences under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts will be issued through the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which manages radio spectrum on the Island’s behalf.

There has been an open invitation to new operators since Tynwald endorsed the InterConnect Communications (ICC) Report on telecommunications policy in 2002. That invitation has been reiterated each year in the Isle of Man Government Plan. Neither new operator has been given the right to erect masts or to dig up the streets without the necessary planning consents in each case. The Commission is urging all operators to share existing facilities.