Newsletter Summer 2008

ComReg wins three IITD awards

ComReg has been commended for outstanding achievement by the Irish Institute of Training and Development (IITD) for “its very good training delivery approach and strong evidence in the areas of training mix and evaluation”.


Jonathan Evans	Mary Orford

Jonathan Evans, an engineer at ComReg, won the 2008 Learner of the Year Award. Jonathan’s award is recognition of his significant upskilling and learning which has allowed ComReg to remain at the forefront of major innovations in the fast-moving electronic communications environment within which ComReg operates.

Furthermore, Mary Orford, ComReg’s Access Officer, received the second runner-up award in the Learner of the Year category for her contribution to ComReg’s reputation in terms of accessibility and concentration on abilities.

“We work in a very dynamic and complex environment and our overall effectiveness is determined by our capacity to integrate our HRD strategies with the strategic goals of the organisation”, said Brendan Kenny, ComReg’s Head of Human Resources. “Employee development and talent management are at the centre of our continuous drive for excellence in everything we do. To receive external recognition, through the IITD awards, confirms that we continue to progress in the right direction. Our Training and Development Specialist, Triona Kelly, has ensured that our learning and development systems operate at a high level.”

ComReg is no stranger to attaining awards for its high standards in the area of Human Resources. This is the fourth year in which ComReg has picked up IITD awards. ComReg has also been successful in attaining a number of other awards, such as the Excellence Though People national standard (awarded every year since 2002), the Engineers Ireland Award for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) since 2003 and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) award for CPD since 2005. ComReg also was a winner of an O2 Ability Award in 2007.

“We are convinced that excellent performance can only be achieved through a real commitment to developing our people. We work in a fast-moving environment where skills must be continuously upgraded and our staff must work across a range of disciplines. Training and development are core activities and we are delighted that our commitment in this area has been recognised by the judging panel,” said Shay O’Malley, Director of Corporate Affairs with ComReg.

Annual Conference 2008

ComReg will host its Annual Conference on Wednesday, 1st October 2008 in the Conrad Hotel, Dublin. The theme for this year’s conference is How Ireland can best benefit from its Digital Dividend.

The conference will focus on the development of ComReg’s strategy on Digital Dividend so that Ireland can best benefit from its Digital Dividend. Following the publication on 15 May 2007 of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Act 2007, the migration of Ireland’s terrestrial television broadcasting services, from analogue to more spectrum efficient digital formats, has commenced. When the migration process is complete and analogue services have been switched off, which is expected to occur in 2012, there is likely be a valuable spectrum surplus. This spectrum surplus is commonly referred to as Digital Dividend spectrum. ComReg’s strategy for Digital Dividend spectrum will require a deeper understanding of the potential benefits that the uses of this spectrum can bring to our economy, our society and the communications industry, in general. ComReg proposes to hold a public consultation in the final quarter of 2008 on its Digital Dividend Strategy.
The Conference will be addressed by the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Mr Eamon Ryan TD. In addition to attracting many notable speakers from the industry, ComReg has commissioned A Consultancy Firm to prepare a report on How Ireland can best benefit from its Digital Dividend and a précis will feature at the Conference.

The conference will be facilitated by Ms Miriam O’Callaghan, a prominent presenter of current affairs programmes on Irish television.

Joint Oireachtas Committee visits ComReg

(L-R): John Doherty, Chairperson of ComReg; John Cregan, Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources; Mike Byrne, Commissioner at ComReg.

In February, members of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources visited the ComReg offices. The Committee were welcomed by Commissioners John Doherty and Mike Byrne. Patricia Dowling, Trend Manager with ComReg, presented an overview of Ireland’s communications market. Following this, Donal Leavy, Director of the Wholesale Division at ComReg and George Merrigan, Director of Market Framework at ComReg, gave presentations on Broadband and Next Generation Networks respectively.

ComReg Announces Plan for Number Changes

The Commission for Communications Regulation recently outlined a plan for phased changes in telephone numbers that will take final effect in May/June 2009.

These changes will affect the following areas:

Area Code	County	Affected Areas
023	Cork	Bandon
043	Longford	Longford and Granard
052	Tipperary	Clonmel, Cahir and Killenaule
064	Kerry	Killarney and Rathmore

All local numbers in the affected areas will have 2 digits added to the start of the existing 5 digit number. The Area Code will not change.

ComReg is responsible for the management and administration of the National Numbering Scheme. When the level of “free” numbers reaches a certain level, changes to the numbering scheme are necessary to ensure that sufficient new numbers are made available to support services for all end-users. From November 3rd 2008, it will be possible for customers to use both the old and
new numbers. The old and new numbers will operate in parallel for a period of approximately 6 months until the actual number change dates in May and June of 2009. After the number change date, only the new 7 digit numbers can be used to complete a call. Customers who dial the old 5 digit number will hear a recorded announcement informing them that the number has changed and asking the customer to dial again using the new number.

Consumers should ensure that they update relevant contact information and inform friends and associates of the change to avoid any inconvenience. ComReg is working closely with telecommunication service providers to ensure that their customers are informed of these changes in a timely manner.

Further details of these number changes are available at the following link

European Communities Third Postal Directive

On 27 February 2008, the European Communities Third Postal Directive came into force, mandating the opening of postal markets to competition no later than 31 December 2010. In anticipation of these developments, ComReg published its Postal Strategy Statement for the coming three years on 14 February 2008.

ComReg holds that there are three key issues which will determine how well Irish consumers will benefit from the introduction of competition into the Irish postal market:

Price Control The Directive requires that the prices of services forming part of the “universal” service guaranteed by the Directive are ‘affordable’, ‘cost oriented’, ‘transparent’ and ‘non-discriminatory’. Member States have discretion as to how this requirement should be enforced. ComReg believes that, in the interest of postal consumers, An Post should continue to get approval before increasing its prices - it is very difficult to turn the clock back once prices are increased.

Quality The Directive requires An Post to provide a high quality service, but it is no use setting targets if there is no effective enforcement procedure as is currently the case.

Provision of ‘universal’ service There is a need for a precise and unambiguous definition of the services guaranteed to Irish consumers. Currently the Minister designates An Post as the ‘universal service provider’ to provide these services. The new Directive recognises that this may not be the best approach in a competitive market. Other options recommended by the European Commission include market provision and public procurement. Market provision means that it is up to postal service providers to decide what services to provide, while the regulator would intervene if there were any resulting gaps in service provision.

At the end of April the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural resources launched a consultation about some of the issues that he will need to address in transposing the Directive into Irish Law. The consultation document can be viewed at http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Communications/Postal and the closing date for submissions is 25 June 2008. ComReg urges all stakeholders to respond to this important consultation.

Later, on the 24 June Charlie McCreevy, the European Commissioner responsible for the Internal Market, is hosting a high-level meeting in Brussels to encourage the comprehensive transposition of the directive in the given timeframe. He has already written to eight member states about specific issues in those countries which could put a brake on completion of the internal postal market if they are not resolved soon.

At the end of this year the European Commission will present a report on the implementation of the European Directive currently in force. ComReg would like to thank all those stakeholders who have responded to the survey conducted by Ecorys on behalf of the European Commission. The response from Ireland is among the best in Europe and will inform the European Commission’s implementation report.

In preparation for these important developments and following a timely review of roles ComReg is pleased to announce that John Hearn will assume the refocused role of Manager, Postal Liberalisation, with responsibility for developing and implementing the new regulatory framework for the postal sector in Ireland. Seamas Plunkett, Manager, Postal Regulation will continue to be responsible for day-to-day activities and operations relating to the current postal regulatory framework.

Quarterly Report for the fourth quarter of 2007

In March, ComReg published its Quarterly Report for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2007.

Highlights of the report include:

Mobile phone penetration stood at 116% at the end of 2007. Mobile subscriptions have increased by almost 77,000 in Q4 and the total number of mobile subscribers is over 5 million.
Irish mobile phone users sent a total of 7.58 billion text messages during the year – this is an increase of 7% on the previous year. A total of 2.12 billion text messages were sent by Irish mobile phone subscribers during the last quarter of 2007.
Overall revenue for the communications market was €1.14 billion in Q4 and the total turnover for 2007 was €4.56 billion.
The total number of broadband subscribers at the end of 2007 was 886,300 (excluding mobile broadband, it was 758,800). This represents an 11.7% increase since Q3 2007.
ComReg estimates that Irish broadband penetration, including mobile broadband, at the end of December 2007 was 20.54%. If mobile broadband is excluded, the broadband penetration rate was 17.58%.
The total number of internet subscriptions is now over 1.2 million. Of this, only 27% of subscribers now connect to the internet using narrowband.
Eircom’s share of the fixed line market has remained constant since the last quarter. However, year-on-year it has declined by 2%. This is predominantly as a result of the increased activity of other authorised operators (OAOs).
Fixed voice call volumes have seen a 4% fall in the year to Q4 2007, while mobile minutes grew by 10% during the last quarter. Mobile minutes now account for 51% of all voice traffic in the Irish telecommunications market.
A total of 1.13 million mobile phone numbers have been ported since June 2003. In Q4 2007, over 99,000 numbers were ported to an alternative operator. An average of 87,000 mobile numbers are ported each quarter.
At the end of December 2007, there were nearly 841,000 digital TV subscribers in Ireland, a growth of 2.4% since Q3 2007.
The Quarterly Report includes an “Emerging Trends” section, which examines mobile broadband.

The full report is available from comreg.ie, document number 08/22.

ComReg finalises competition for National Spectrum in 26GHz band

In January 2008, ComReg published a finalised Information Memorandum detailing the licence award process for more than 1,000 MHz of national spectrum in the 26 GHz frequency band. The competition is offering up to 18 lots of spectrum.

The licences will have the following general rights and obligations:

Each national channel consists of 2 x 28 MHz of spectrum in the 26 GHz band.
These licences will provide for the provision of point-to-point (P2P) and point-to-multipoint (PMP) fixed links.
A reserve price of €350,000 has been placed on each of the national licences on offer.
If demand exceeds supply then the licences will be awarded via an auction in which applicants may make bids in excess of the reserve price.
Any one applicant cannot bid for more than six national licences.
The principle of technology-neutrality is applied to these national licences.

In November 2007, ComReg published this Information Memorandum in draft format seeking views from interested parties. ComReg has taken account of the issues raised by the respondents in this finalised memorandum.

Fixed Access technology in the microwave bands continues to advance and this spectrum has been set aside for the provision of national licences in order to meet the needs of growing data and telecommunications networks. This spectrum is suitable for a number of applications including broadband backhaul, network connectivity between the network core and a network access node (e.g. a GSM base-station) or end-user.

ComReg Commissioner Mike Byrne said “ComReg believes that making available new national licences will offer high demand volume users of 26 GHz spectrum greater flexibility in their use of spectrum and opportunities for more efficient network planning.”

The full details may be found in document 07/93R on comreg.ie.

Consumer Queries and Complaints Statistics

During the 3 month period, October to December 2007, consumers contacted ComReg’s Consumer Management Team with over 3,621 issues about their telephone, internet and postal service providers. While these issues were both queries and complaints, the majority of contacts were queries. Consumers Contacted ComReg in relation to the following main areas:-

Complaints & Queries Pie Chart

Please visit www.askcomreg.ie for further information on Consumer Complaints and Queries

The Trend of International Roaming Charges

ComReg recently published information showing the trend of international roaming charges for the period April to September 2007. The EU Roaming Regulation came into effect at the end of August 2007. The Regulation required mobile service providers to offer all customers a “Eurotariff” with a price ceiling. This was implemented by all Irish mobile service providers on or before the required date.

The report on roaming services prices indicates that for all international calls, the average charged by Irish mobile service providers is lower than that charged by operators in other Member States. The price for a text message sent when roaming while at the same level as the average charged by operators in other Member States is considerably higher than national texts. Charges for text messages are not covered by the Regulation but the European Commission has stated that it will decide whether the Regulation should be extended to cover messaging and data roaming, depending on developments in the market.

ComReg welcomes evidence of reduced costs for Irish consumers when making and receiving calls while travelling in the EU. ComReg notes, however, that charges for data-based services including texts remain high relative to domestic rates, and calls on Irish operators to offer better value to their customers for these services. ComReg also observes that all roaming charges are calculated per minute rather than per second, and questions the validity of this methodology, which has the effect of charging users for unused service portions.

ComReg will publish a further report in July 2008.