Look like we got a licence in Ireland.
irish-times.com
29 telecommunications licences awarded
By Barry O'Keeffe
Twenty-nine telecommunications licences were awarded by the
Director of Telecommunications Regulation yesterday, marking
the beginning of full liberalisation of the market.
Among those who got licences were Esat Telecom, Ocean (the
British Telecom/ESB joint venture company) and Telecom
Eireann, the state company which was being licensed for the
first time.
"This is a very important development in the future of the Irish
telecommunications market, the Regulator, Ms Etain Doyle
said. "My office now has the key elements in place to facilitate
the opening of the market."
Although Ms Doyle's office provided the names of those who
have been awarded licences, it was unable to publish even a
brief resume of those companies. A number of them are
unknown to even existing telecoms players. A spokeswoman
said all the licence applications had been confidential and "had
to be treated in that manner."
Full liberalisation of the market was brought in 13 months
ahead of schedule, by Public Enterprise Minister Ms
O'Rourke. The decision to do was was taken last March as the
Minister feared the EU derogation, which protected Telecom
Eireann in certain sectors of the market, would hold back the
development of telecoms services.
Ms Doyle admitted the timetable set by Ms O'Rourke had
been very challenging and paid tribute to her staff for their
work. Ms Doyle said she believes the type of regulation that
has been developed will allow competition to work and will
help encourage market entry. "It will also herald a fast transition
to an era where consumers are offered the best possible
telecoms services at an affordable price," she said.
Those who received the licences welcomed deregulation. "On
the eve of full liberalisation the awarding of the full licence
means we can now get on with the business of providing fully
commercial services to our customers," Mr Sean Melly chief
executive of MCI WorldCom said.
There are two types of licence. The first is a general
telecommunications licence which permits the holder to provide
telecoms networks and services including voice telephony to
the public. The second licence, known as a basic
telecommunications licence does not cover voice telephony and
services involving numbers, but is tailored to specialised
companies, providing for example, data , Internet and
cable-based services.
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