Bids for the government's auction of third-generation mobile phone licences burst through the £5bn mark yesterday, as competition intensified among the 13 contenders.

The sale of the five licences could reach as much as £10bn, as the four existing operators continue their aggressive bidding.

One.Tel, backed by News Corp, offered £1.3bn for Licence A and Vodafone a similar sum for licence B. WorldCom bid £964m for C, while 3GUK, an Eircom subsidiary, offered £965m for D and Orange bid £1bn for E. The total cash offered now exceeds £5.56bn.

In Cannes yesterday, Michael Fallen, chief financial officer at Eircom, would not comment on the price the group was prepared to pay, saying only: "We have bid aggressively so far and we will bid sensibly on price."

The bid fitted with the group's ambitions to expand in the UK and Ireland. He cited Eircom's combination of local market knowledge and international experience in mobile operations.

Virgin, which brought together the SpectrumCo consortium, denied it had sold its 1% stake in the group. Virgin confirmed it has the option of going to 5% if it wins a licence. Other big shareholders include Tesco and Marconi.

Useful links:

• www.spectrumauctions.gov.uk For up to the minute information