ComReg Newsletter Autumn 2009

ComReg Annual Conference

2009 Annual Conference

On October 13, ComReg will hold its annual conference in the Conrad Hotel Dublin. Entitled Shaping Ireland’s Future – Communications for the Smart Economy, the conference will focus on how innovative or emerging communications services can play a pivotal and enabling role in Ireland’s economic regeneration.

A Smart Economy is a networked economy and therefore the role of communications networks and services is critical to realising the vision set out in the Government’s framework for sustainable economic renewal – Building Ireland’s Smart Economy.

The Conference will be addressed by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr Eamon Ryan TD.

In addition to attracting national and international speakers of note, a panel discussion will also be facilitated. Experienced panel members will discuss the challenges and opportunities facing Ireland and will provide insights on the important contribution that can be made by the information and communications technology (ICT) sector.

The conference will be facilitated by Dr. John Bowman, the well-known broadcaster and historian. There will be a short questions and answers session after each individual presentation.

Health and Safety Award for ComReg

In September, ComReg was the recipient of a highly commended award in the All Ireland Occupational Safety Awards by the National Irish Safety Organisation / Northern Ireland Safety Group (NISO / NISG). The Awards Scheme has been running for 18 years and has seen many innovations reflected in constant growth in the number of entries over those years.

The awards capture the best standards and practices in modern day health and safety management systems and procedures. The Award scheme gives entrants the opportunity to include in their submissions areas where they can demonstrate ‘Superior Performance’ in the operation of health and safety management practice.

The continual innovation and updating of the awards process challenges entrants and has established it as the most prestigious health and safety award scheme throughout Ireland.

ComReg’s market report highlights challenging conditions in the communications market

Subscriptions across all broadband platforms graph

In September, ComReg released its Quarterly Report for the period Q2 2009. Overall, revenues and voice traffic declined this quarter. However, broadband subscriptions showed a continued increase, albeit at a slower pace than previous quarters.

The broadband per capita penetration rate (including mobile broadband) reached 29.5% and 21.1% (excluding mobile broadband).
Overall market revenues declined by over 4% this quarter to just over €1.01 billion.
Total voice traffic minutes declined by 1.2% to over 4.6 billion minutes. Mobile minutes represent the majority (55%) of these minutes.
Mobile phone penetration per capita including mobile broadband was 117% and 109% excluding mobile broadband.

The report (ComReg document 09/71) also includes a short technology briefing on mobile payments and can be viewed here.

Implementation of the EU Roaming Regulation by Irish Mobile Companies

In August, ComReg published an Information Notice (ComReg Document 09/67) on the Implementation of the EU Roaming Regulation by Irish Mobile Companies.

The Notice analysed Irish roaming data for the period 1 October 2008 to 31 March 2009. The price caps in effect during the reporting period are outlined below:

Effective Date	30 August 2008 – 30 June 2009
Wholesale Rate	0.28 cent VAT Excl.
Retail Rate for calls made	0.46 cent VAT Excl. 0.56 cent VAT Incl.
Retail Rate for calls received	0.22 cent VAT Excl. 0.27 cent VAT Incl.

ComReg noted following key points regarding the data for the reporting period:

• Irish retail roaming prices for calls made and received continue to indicate compliance with the regulatory price ceiling.

• Ireland’s ‘Eurotariff’ price for calls made and received and the price for the rest of the world (calls made while outside the EU/EEA) was lower than the average prices charged in EU/EEA countries over the reported period.

• The retail price for sending a text message remained below the EU/EEA average in the reported period. However, these prices are still considerably above the price incurred for sending a text message at home.

• While Ireland’s retail non-group data prices tended to be above the EU/EEA average over the reported periods, prices decreased in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009. (Note non-group traffic means traffic between entities that are not within the same group).

• Volumes of retail data traffic grew strongly over the reported periods. By Q1 2009, volumes were almost 6 times greater than Q4 2007 levels.

• Ireland’s aggregate wholesale price per megabit of data among non-group companies continued to be higher than the EU/EEA average, although prices had decreased when compared with Q3 1008.

• Due to the effect of billing unitisation (per minute, per second billing), Ireland’s billed prices for retail ‘Eurotariff’ calls made were approximately 40% higher than actual usage would suggest. This was above the EU/EEA average of approximately 25%. In contrast, the surcharge for Irish retail ‘Eurotariff’ prices for calls received was lower than the EU/EEA average (approximately 7% compared to over 17% EU/EEA average) and closer to actual usage charges. This is a reflection of per second billing for calls received by a number of Irish operators.

Findings of Residential Consumer ICT Survey – Q2 2009

In July, ComReg published the findings of its first Residential Consumer ICT Survey of 2009. The survey, of 1,006 adults aged 15-74, measured attitudes and usage of information and communications by consumers. This survey was based on research conducted by Millward Brown Lansdowne in May and June of 2009.

Key findings from the survey were:

Almost 4 in 10 respondents anticipated a reduction in their communications expenditure over the next 12 months. 3 in 10 respondents indicated that they have already reduced expenditure in the last 8 months, mainly through reduced consumption as opposed to disconnecting services or switching providers.
The average monthly spend on mobile phones declined to €40.68 in Q2 2009. This is almost €17 less than the same period in 2006, owing to a combination of more competitive pricing and reduced consumption among consumers. Fixed line average bi-monthly spend was €95.24, which is €6.03 less than average spend in Q2 2006.
PC/Laptop ownership continues to increase. 73% of respondents now have access to either a PC or laptop at home.
Home internet connections also continued to increase from 58% in Q2 2008 to 67% in Q2 2009.
Just over half of internet users (52%) use Eircom as their Internet Service Provider (ISP). Mobile broadband providers have increased their market share from 6% in Q2 2008 to 17% in Q2 2009.
Nearly 70% of consumers indicated that their home internet connection was fast enough for their needs, up from almost 60% in Q2 2008.
The use of premium rate services was low (17%) among mobile phone users. Dissatisfaction with premium rate services was due mainly to cost and hidden charges. In addition, consumer expectations of future use were low.

The full set of published results is available here.

Discussion document on Next Generation Broadband

July saw ComReg publish a wide-ranging discussion document entitled Next Generation Broadband in Ireland. The document offers perspectives on the range of policy, technical and regulatory issues which can support a timely and efficient move towards the increased availability of high speed next generation broadband services in the market.

The Department of Communications, Energy & Natural Resources paper Next Generation Broadband: Gateway to a Knowledge Ireland recognises the critical role of high speed broadband services in attaining the Government’s twin goals of becoming a Smart Economy and a Knowledge Society.

The ComReg discussion paper looks in detail at the range of factors which can enable or inhibit the development of these networks, and at the costs and benefits to be expected. It also examines how Next Generation Broadband (NGB) is being deployed in some other leading economies – whether by the principal fixed telecoms company, alternative fixed telecoms operators, or cable and wireless operators - and it considers what incentives and safeguards are needed to ensure that Ireland derives maximum benefit from the eventual move to NGB here.

Next Generation Broadband in Ireland sets out the regulatory levers available to ComReg which can influence next generation broadband developments and the circumstances within which such regulatory options may be appropriate. These include innovative use of spectrum, appropriate access and pricing regimes and consumer protection measures.

The ComReg document 09/56 can be viewed here.

An Post quality of service performance between April and June 2009

On 3 September, ComReg published the results of its quarterly independent report on the Quality of Service performance of An Post during the period April to June 2009.

The report for Quarter 2, 2009 shows that:

85% of mail was delivered throughout the State within one working day for the period 1st April to 30th June 2009. This compares with 79% for the 2008 annual result and with 83% for the previous quarter in 2009. The target set by ComReg for Next Day Delivery is 94%.
98% of mail was delivered within 3 working days against a target set by ComReg of 99.5%.
Mail posted for delivery within the county of posting (excluding Dublin) showed an improvement from 85% in Quarter 1 2009 to 87% in Quarter 2. However, a slight decline in next day delivery performance was observed in Mail posted in Dublin for delivery within Dublin County, from 84% in Quarter 1 2009 to 83% in Quarter 2.
Mail posted outside of Dublin for delivery within Dublin County recorded an improved next day delivery rate of 83%, compared with 76% for the previous quarter in 2009.
The independent survey, conducted by TNS mrbi, is based on a nationally representative sample of 6,977 test mail items posted and delivered throughout the State to identify on time reliability of An Post’s domestic single piece mail.

The full set of published results (ComReg Document 09/69) – is available here.

Consumer Queries and Complaints Statistics

July to September 2009

During the 3 month period, July to September 2009, consumers contacted ComReg’s Consumer Management Team with 4,226 issues (both queries and complaints) about their telephone, internet and postal service providers.

Consumers Contacted ComReg in relation to the following main areas:-

Consumer Stats for Quarter 3 2009 graph