Eircom Ticked Off As Irish Telecoms Regulator Sets Prices For Local Loop Unbundling

by Robert Lee, Tax-news.com, London

04 May 2001

Etain Doyle, the Irish Telecoms Regulator, earlier this week cleared the way for the implementation of local loop unbundling in the Republic. Essentially, the regulator has directed monopolistic Eircom to open up its local area access network to competitors for less than half of Eircom's suggested price.

In a decision notice issued on April 30, Doyle set prices for access to Eircom's network and directed changes to the company's original reference access offer. Monthly line rental is fixed at 13.53 euros, or I£10.66.

A statement from the Regulator said: 'While there has been an LLU reference offer available from Eircom since the due date of 31 December 2000, this was incomplete and non compliant in several respects. In order to ensure that consumers are in a position to derive the benefits that Local Loop Unbundling can bring I have decided to intervene and set prices.'

LLU has the potential to increase significantly the range of competitive services available to businesses and consumers. It requires the network owner to provide access to the copper pair connecting an individual telephone subscriber to the nearest point of interconnection with the main telephone network at the local exchange. This allows new entrants to offer a full range of broadband services directly to the customer.

Doyle added: 'As Eircom has failed to supply all the relevant information, I have set interim prices based on the information available to me. Despite repeated requests and the clear direction that the 30th April was the final date for the determination, there are still very substantial gaps in the material provided to me by Eircom. Eircom's approach with respect to costing and the level of response and co-operation this issue is not acceptable.'

The charges laid down by the Regulator are based on data from Eircom, benchmarking and other reviews and analyses by the ODTR of efficient operator costs. The Regulator said that the setting of these prices 'does not relieve Eircom of its responsibility to address the deficiencies in its pricing proposals and to make a comprehensive re-submission to the ODTR on all matters.' Eircom is currently reviewing the directive but had no further comments, according to a company spokesperson.

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