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Eircom told to give rivals more access
Thursday, June 27 2002
by Andrew McLindon


Ireland's telecoms regulator has directed Eircom to allow other operators to
interconnect to its network at additional network points of presence.

The Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation said on Thursday that
this new form of interconnection will enable Other Licenced Operators (OLOs) to
make more effective use of their network investment and interconnect more
flexibility and economically. 

 

The decision was made as part of a review of Eircom's Reference Interconnection
Offer (RIO). This is the catalogue of services that Eircom gives other operators,
enabling them in turn to offer their own services to consumers and businesses in
Ireland.

 

This was the third review undertaken by the regulator of Eircom's interconnection
offer and was prompted by the complaints from certain operators that the former
state monopoly was hindering their access to its infrastructure. This, they said,
was stifling the development of competition in the Irish telecoms market. 

 

The move has been welcomed by the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators,
which represents many of the operators who compete with Eircom. Its chairman,
Iarla Flynn, told ElectricNews.Net that it would mean increased efficiencies and
lower costs for operators. 

 

"OLOs have been looking for such a change for quite some time," commented
Flynn. "Up until now, OLOs could only interconnect with Eircom's network at a
limited number of switches. This ruling will mean that OLOs will now be able to
interconnect with Eircom at an expanded number of points of presence, which will
enable them to save money and be more efficient. These savings can then be passed
on to consumers."

 

The regulator made several other decisions as part of its review. This included
the creation of two separate forums to develop in greater detail a new partial
private circuits product and to address the interconnection billing process. The
private circuits forum is due to be convened on 9 September 2002 and sit once a
week with a target completion date of 20 December 2002.

 

The regulator also said that the industry's interconnect operations and
maintenance  forum would be revamped to address the operational aspects of the
interconnect regime and that version control to Eircom's interconnection offer
would be introduced. 



The latter decision means that Eircom will have to seek approval from the
regulator every time it makes changes to its RIO contract.

 

Other issues reviewed by the regulator included routing and capacity issues,
billing and payments, management aspects of the RIO, new services, and service
level agreements for interconnect links.

 

"Eircom's RIO is a living document and will change with the requirements of the
market," said the Regulator, Etain Doyle, in a statement. "I believe these
decisions bring the Irish RIO into line with best EU practice and the version
control will help improve the transparency of Eircom's RIO for other operators."