subject: Ireland (country telecoms regulation overview) Market Research Report [print this page] Compared with most European member states, mobile broadband In Ireland has experienced strong growth over the past two years. However, Ireland still ranks below the EU27 average fixed broadband penetration, with 20.2% and 22.9% respectively. Infrastructure competition in the broadband market is one way to increase the penetration rate of fixed broadband, and as such the Irish regulator ComReg, imposed a substantial price cut on monthly rental charges for shared access to LLU in 2009. The 91% reduction of wholesale tariffs will promote competition in the Irish fixed broadband market, and should ultimately lead to faster broadband speeds and lower prices for end users.
Decisions on spectrum refarming and the digital dividend are still pending, despite ComReg having conducted a lengthy and thorough consultation process. The future use of the digital dividend and liberalization of the 900MHz and 1,800MHz bands in Ireland are the current major regulatory issues at stake. ComReg is expected to make a decision on these issues as soon as possible.
In the retail market analysis of 2005, ComReg separated the retail fixed call market from the retail fixed access market, and in October 2007 it removed all remedies in the former given the level of competition. For the retail fixed access market, ComReg imposed a retail price cap remedy on Eircom. It will review this market again in the second half of 2010 to decide whether deregulation is appropriate.
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