Telecoms regulation "needs to be reformed"

juliuspret

From The Irish Independent

Anthony O'Reilly, the chairman of Eircom, has again called on the Government to reform the regulatory environment for telecoms companies. Speaking in the company's annual report, which was published yesterday, he said: "It remains beyond comprehension why a cable into a house is unregulated, a mobile signal is unregulated, a satellite service is unregulated, but a copper wire is regulated to within an inch of its life.

"As competition increases and technology platforms converge, this situation is clearly a nonsense. It distorts the market and frightens off investors."

Sir Anthony called on the Government to adopt the lighter regulatory approach seen in countries such as New Zealand and the US, where the Federal Communications Commission has largely eliminated the requirement for piecemeal unbundling.

Recognising that some people are unhappy with the level of broadband availability in Ireland, Sir Anthony said that Eircom's aim is to achieve "near-100pc availability". He said: "While Eircom's broadband customers are delighted by the service, those who cannot get broadband place the blame at Eircom's door. Quoting the impressive speed of roll-out and take-up is little consolation to the customer who desperately wants a service."

The annual report sets out the salaries and bonuses of the senior executives. Eircom chief executive Phil Nolan, who received a bonus of €511,868, is paid a salary of €735,280; chief financial officer Peter Lynch, who was paid a bonus of €268,180, receives a basic salary of €485,000; Cathal Magee, managing director, Eircom retail, who was paid a bonus of €258,852, gets a salary of €485,000, and David McRedmond, commercial director, who was paid a bonus of €183,150, receives €350,000 in salary.

Sir Anthony is paid an annual fee of €132,500.

Interesting on how that pile of crap story got included with Anthony O'Reilys paper??!!??
Its scary to think of what Eircom would do if there was no one there to at least partially regulate them like Comreck.
Mr McRedmond gets over €0.5million a year for talking sh!t...well paid!!!

WillieFlynn

I had a good laugh at the bit about the mobile signals being unregulated......

I think O2, vodafone would disagree.........
The regulator has already forced them to give true number portability in a reasonable time frame (few hours), virtual mobile operators are about to appear, they also in some cases have to share base station sites. But there still is a lot left to be done.... just look at the roaming prices....

And far from the copper line being regulated with in an inch of its life, any one trying to move to smart will tell you that there isn't enough effective regulation.

juliuspret

Well its from the Independent which like eircom is controlled by Riley(Should he be called Sir or is he a British citizen?).

So like the Sun newspaper giving PR to Sky satellite(Murdock)...the same is true for the Independent and eircom.

odie

As far as I know the cable into the house he refers to (I assume cable TV) is licensed and regulated.

Checked here

http://www.comreg.ie/about_us/default.asp?S=2&NavID=19&M=False#100166

and this is the quote they have. O Reilly is talking through his backside as far as I can see.

"What We Do

ComReg is the statutory body responsible for the regulation of the electronic communications sector (telecommunications, radiocommunications and broadcasting transmission) and the postal sector. We are the national regulatory authority for these sectors in accordance with EU law which is subsequently transposed into Irish legislation.

Our remit covers all kinds of transmission networks including:

Traditional telephone wire
Traditional television and radio
Cable
Radio Communications including fixed wireless
MMDS and deflector operators providing TV services
Mobile operators providing voice and data services
Licensing Framework for Satellite Services in Ireland
Postal delivery network"

juliuspret

As I said above he's only using the article in the Irish Independent as a vehicle to air his current frustrations.

Poor Tony must be getting angry that Joe O'Soap is no longer takeing it lying down from eircom and has decided to move over to better deals...providers which wouldnt have a foothold in Ireland unless eircom was at least partially regulated.

I'm going to do a little more querying into the state of New Zealand broadband and see if their telco companies are regulated(I assume they are) and if their LLU has taken off.

From what I know...France is regulated and has the best DSl in all of Europe (Sweden is a different story as its Government policy to have ethernet/fibre to your home).

damien

but a copper wire is regulated to within an inch of its life.

I read that as "any competition that tries to avail of the copper in the ground is strangled to an inch of its life by our tactics to ensure maximum profit"

juliuspret

I found 2 examples of NZ broadband:

http://www.iconz.co.nz/hom_dsl.php

http://www.telecom.co.nz/chm/0,5123,203071-202469,00.html#

We shall take a look at 2Mbit broadband

iconz.co.nz
ICONZ DSL 4 2Mbps 10GB $64.95(~€37.7) 1c /MB

telecom.co.nz
Xtra Broadband 2Mbps 10GB $69.95(~40.4) 1c /MB

For the €40 being asked by those NZ telco's you now get from:
BT Ireland 2Mbps 24GB

Now do you think we should be following in the steps of New Zealand and their laughable CAP's...well Tony thinks so!!!