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The quarterly review by the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR) showed that for the period April-June 2001, new telcos' share of the fixed line market increased just 1 percent to 21 percent. Telecommunications revenues actually fell by 1 percent to EUR3.12 billion, and employment in the sector fell 2.5 percent, reflecting job cuts in the sector.
"Today's figures are clearly indicative of a sector experiencing a levelling off in the strong growth rates it enjoyed over the last 12 months," the regulator Etain Doyle said. "Revenues in this sector increased by up to 30 percent in this time period, but this quarterly review shows a slight fall for the first time in many years."
The report also showed that mobile phone penetration in Ireland has reached 70 percent, up from 22 percent this time last year. The regulator stressed that direct comparisons with the last quarter are not reliable due to the revisions in definition of pre-paid subscribers. She maintained, nevertheless, that "it is clear that the market has continued to grow."
But in troubling news for the mobile operators, the growth in text messaging has plateaued, the report showed. Short-messaging service (SMS) traffic has been a strong growth area for mobile operators and its sluggish growth in Ireland will not please local operators.
Internet access now accounts for around 28 percent of all retail traffic, an increase of 3 percent since the previous quarter.
Also on Thursday the regulator cleared the way for the provision of short-range public access services such as Bluetooth and Hiperlan. The announcement means that these technologies, as well as IEEE 802.11, are exempt from licensing from now on, but companies must comply with European regulations and hold a general or specific telecommunications licence.
Operators will be free to use the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands for these technologies subject to certain technical restrictions, on a non-exclusive basis.
"If offering services to the public they will need to have an appropriate telecommunications service licence," Doyle said. "This facility may be useful either to complement their existing licensed services or to provide localised services in areas not currently served."
"This decision is basically a clarification," Brighid Smyth, spokeswoman of the ODTR said on Thursday. "Until now there hasn't been a specific framework. It was unclear if these technologies were allowed or not."
More information is at http://www.odtr.ie
Sheila McDonald contributed to this report.
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