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Yet another line rental increase imminent

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    #92
    Valentia
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,764 ✭✭✭Valentia


    Jazus I didnt get much time but at least, Ripwave, I got the instrument in. They told me to hang on and then cut me off. ****!!!

    Valentia


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    #93
    Moriarty
    Registered Users Posts: 6,007 ✭✭✭Moriarty


    You got info across well Valentia, well done :)


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    #94
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    Originally posted by MarkR
    Anyone else getting an error message connecting?
    Server has reached its capacity and can serve no more streams. Please try again later.

    We've crashed RTE!

    Mike.


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    #95
    Xian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭Xian


    Originally posted by Ripwave
    Other than making you feel good about getting it off your chest, do you think your contribution made any difference? (I'm not nit-picking. I genuinely want to know. Did you get a response from ComReg. Were your concerns reflected in the Decision notice?

    From experience, I have found that the consultation process generally goes as follows:
    • The Regulator decides to do something
    • A consultation is issued
    • Responses are misquoted, ignored or gleaned for free consultation
    • The Regulator issues a Decision Notice "deciding" to do what it originally decided

    As an example of the topsy turvy world of the Communications Regulator, the VUS was negotiated and implemented while it was under consultation (as part of the USO consultation)!:rolleyes:


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    #96
    spongebob
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,143 ✭✭✭spongebob


    Originally posted by Xian
    As an example of the topsy turvy world of the Communications Regulator, the VUS was negotiated and implemented while it was under consultation (as part of the USO consultation)!:rolleyes:

    I further recall that the Comreg reply to consultation (while Comreg was busy defining the Irish version of "Functional Internet Access" at 0k) also mentioned that ALL users ...not just the vulnerable ones..... had a right to "Control Expenditure", instead the user has a right to pay €ircon another €5 a month on top of the €24 line rental in order to buy that right. The consultation response from Comreg Here is an interesting and very long winded historical document. It was Etains finest hour for complete sh1te extrusion and the current chair , Doherty , colluded fully with this farrago lest we forget. Page 55 - 58
    Control of Expenditure
    • Selective Call Barring: the ability of the subscriber to bar outgoing calls of
    defined types or to defined numbers free of charge.

    Commission’s Position
    Whilst the Universal Service Directive specifically refers to premium services as an
    example of high priced calls, it also acknowledges that the measures referred to may
    need to be reviewed and changed in light of market developments. In the past, calls to premium rate numbers may have given most cause for concern in terms of control of expenditure, ComReg is mindful that other call types also lead to control of
    expenditure concerns for consumers.
    The Future Framework for the Regulation of Universal
    Service in the Irish Telecommunications Market
    Recent research9 undertaken by ComReg shows that of those who currently avail of
    call barring to control expenditure, 42% bar mobile calls as opposed to 28% for
    premium rate services. ComReg is aware that at present the facility to bar mobile calls
    without having to also bar national calls is not available. This means that the flexibility
    of users to selectively bar certain call types is restricted. ComReg considers that the
    barring of calls to mobiles should be available in isolation from other defined calls
    types e.g. national. ComReg considers that demand for mobile call barring would be
    greatly increased if it were to be isolated from national calls and many consumers
    would benefit from the ability to control their expenditure on these types of calls. The
    ability to selectively bar mobile calls in isolation is provided by the majority of
    universal service providers across Europe.
    The introduction of an unbundled mobile call barring product may require the
    resolution of technical difficulties. Indeed, Comreg is aware that the issue of call
    barring (and eircom’s capabilities in this regard) is being discussed by the industry in
    the context of the introduction of Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) and the availability of
    corresponding wholesale call barring products.

    IN ENGLISH it means that ALL customers should be able to bar calls to Mobiles free of charge and to Premium numbers free of charge . Yet Comreg allows €ircon to charge €25 setup and €5 a month for mobile call barring ......which then restricts the user to local calls only . Comreg have accepted that the facility shoiuld be there free as in other EU countries but they have done nothing about it .....there is some sh1te about Wholesale Line Rental (aka Single Billing) which has also disappeared form the regulatory map.

    Funnily enough the Rental price rise in June 2003 was supposed to pay €ircon for single billing and the VUS at the same time and we got less than nothing.

    A month later Comreg published the final USO and took their 'position' above and the 'Right' to 'Control Expenditure' and shoved them where the sun don't shine on the Telecoms market. Useless Bastards .

    /me wonders if that means we are all vulnerable now :mad: ?

    M


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    #97
    Xian
    Closed Accounts Posts: 301 ✭✭Xian


    Originally posted by GerKavanagh
    As far as I'm concerned eircom should not have been allowed a price increase and I voiced my concerns in the public consultation, what have any of ye done? Comreg published their decision notice months ago so why are any of ye surprised that this has happened?
    If I we're you I would read up on this instead of voicing opinions which are too little too late!

    At the time of the last consultation (02/96, submission date January 10th, 2003), we had the Response to Ahern's Draft Directive to ComReg and the USO consultation to deal with. As the consultation on line rental dealt with a wider scope than was within our remit, dealing as it did with line rental in general, it didn't afford as high a precedence as the others at the time.

    That said, the consultation was couched in strong enough terms to be optimistic as to its outcome:

    "eircom has the opportunity to tackle efficiency issues. ... this price cap would run for 3 years, but may be reviewed earlier if special circumstances warrant ... it may be well to signal that failure to tackle this effectively could be such an issue. "

    The loaded term in this debate has not been "basket". It's "efficiency". Back then, "efficiency" would have been interpreted in the context of the investigation by Prof. Bill Melody:

    "[Eircom] should not be compensated for its bloated workforce and poor network... [Eircom's] high level of inherited inefficiency meant it could earn greater than normal profits from productivity improvements. The greater the inefficiency, the more scope there is for productivity improvement" (Sunday Business Post, June 8 2003).

    In the meantime, "efficiency" has been interpreted by ComReg to be any sop (WLR, VUS etc., real or immaginary) Eircom choose to plug to get another increase. I suppose it was a bit naïve to expect otherwise, that the Odd Couple, Butch-Femme relationship that is Eircom and The Regulator could have been any different (the fact that it's no longer Etain in the submissive position adds a lurid aspect to it).

    As an aside, Ger, I note in the introduction to 02/98:

    The director is disappointed that there were no responses from consumer representatives,

    I suppose you didn't answer to all of them. Persistence is the key. Persistence! :)


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