Eulogy

The award is presented to ComReg/ODTR for producing some of the most elaborate Potemkin villages in form of their Quarterly Reviews.

These Reviews are models of perfect deception of the public and the decision makers. Grigori Potemkin would draw his hat.

The facades erected are implacable: Broadband is rolling out successfully; Ireland is at the leading edge of things; new innovative products like flatrate dialup will make sure that Ireland will be on the forefront in terms of the Internet; dial-up Internet access is cheaper than in many other counties; the playing field is level for competition; only very few people have raised complaints; Ireland’s Internet penetration is higher than that of Germany and the UK; ComReg are doing things on their own initiative.

Etain Doyle, chairperson of the Commission for Communications Regulation: "ComReg will ...ensure that the Irish Communications market can be as competitive as possible and that Irish consumers receive the highest quality products and services from the widest choice at the best price."

All the ugly things are out of sight. Let us have a look behind the facades: Ireland has the highest adsl wholesale pricing of Europe and therefore practically no broadband. Ireland has got the highest telephone line rental price in Europe and probably the worst lines in Europe. Ireland has got the highest pricing for local loop unbundling in Europe. Ireland has an average Internet usage time nearly as low as that of third world countries. Ireland has the most unproductive incumbent telco of Europe. ComReg give a damn about consumer issues. Everything ComReg are doing happens on a rolling 6 months basis: The single telephone bill, FRIACO flatrate, portability of mobile phone number. And we would like to see whether our regulator is not only the most ineffective but also the most copiously staffed and financed such body in Europe, compared to the size of population?

Want to have a few more vistas behind ComReg's facades? ComReg/ODTR are good at cherry picking from the available data. Here are a few things they didn’t want us to see.

1. Line rental

Here's how ComReg "informed" the public and the minister about the matter of Eircom escalating the already high line rental fee from 18.24 euros to 19.60 euros in their uniquely deceitful way:
"Irish PSTN and leased lines tariffs changed little relative to those in comparator countries in the last quarter."

(From ComReg's "Quarterly Market Commentary", December 2002 -Doc Nr 02/106a)

Just now Eircom have announced a further increase of the line rental charges, raising them to over 21 euros per month by March.

2. Internet access pricing

ComReg/ODTR have on numerous occasions claimed that the Irish dial-up pricing is lower than that of many other countries.
A first glance at the figures seems to support this position:

So there are other countries who are even more expensive?
Not at all. It is a simple ploy.
Our Regulator simply thinks that the people to whom her reviews are aimed for – the Minister and the press – can be taken for a ride.

The reality is shown in this graph:

Nobody in those countries would use metered dial-up if he were not just a casual user. Nobody would pay more than 20 to 40 euro for flatrate or adsl offers available in his country. The only other country where a former State telco is allowed to fleece its people in such an extreme way for Internet access is Greece (EL) – and at least they have a much lower line rental (compare 11.78 euros to the Irish 19.60 - soon 21 euro charge!) and lower per minute charges.
ComReg have granted Eircom permission to erect a toll booth on the Internet.

3. Broadband roll-out

“…DSL roll-out is proceeding rapidly, take-up is slower with some 2000 lines ordered…” [Comreg, December 2002]
If it only were funny! Etain, whom are you kidding?

When will we have the coverage of Belgium, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Mexico…?
With the “DSL rollout preceding rapidly”, can we please see our Irish dsl coverage map like this one of Switzerland (I guess by now even the last white spots are gone on that one)?

A new report by the World Economic Forum manifests Irelands failure. In its ranking of countries according to broadband availability it puts Ireland in its place. In place 51 actually. Not only behind countries like South Korea, Sweden, Canada and Germany, but also behind countries like Namibia, Peru, Nicaragua, Botswana, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Guatamala, Brazil and Romania!
Here is the ranking.

4. The regulator achieves price reductions? Yes, but only in the Foreword.

"Positively impacting on Irish businesses through the spurring of competitive pricing, the liberalised market has contributed to lower costs for Irish firms, attracting higher-value investment which helps build our knowledge based economy." Etain Doyle, chairperson of ComReg in her foreword to the December 2002 Quarterly Market Commentary.

"71% [of companies] indicate that their telecoms costs have increased or remained the same in the last twelve months." Page six of the same document.

An afterthought:
Other historians are kinder towards Potemkin:
"As governor of the new province, he organized Catherine's fabulous Crimean tour of 1787. The allegation that he had sham villages ("Potemkin villages") built along her route is, at best, an extreme exaggeration, for Potemkin was in fact an able administrator, and he did much to develop the Crimea."
ComReg, do surprise us, show us that you are not the old ODTR under a new name, but a new organisation with a vision and a will to work for the interests of all in this country. There are hopeful signs to be seen on the regulator's newly designed web site - www.comreg.ie. They have at last discovered the existence of the consumer. Alas, there is always hope.