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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 2 Apr 1992

Vol. 418 No. 2

Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - MMDS Television Service.

Austin Currie

Question:

2 Mr. Currie asked the Minister for Tourism, Transport and Communications if she will outline, (1) her views on the MMDS television relay system and (2) the stage reached in providing an MMDS service by those operators who signed legal contracts with her Department; when real multi-channel choice of high quality will be available to urban and rural dwellers alike; and if she will make a statement on the matter.

Having considered the matter afresh in recent months I am satisfied that MMDS is the only technical means that can be licensed to provide multi-channel choice to areas where cable service is not available if something approaching the same variety of television services as is available on cable is to be provided.

As the Deputy is aware, progress with the establishment of MMDS in a number of areas had, until the latter part of 1991, been delayed by the planning process. MMDS systems are now operational or are under construction in nine of the ten franchised areas of the country. The provision of MMDS service to specific areas within the MMDS franchise is a matter for the licensed operator concerned. If it emerges that satisfactory service is not possible in an area from a licensee's primary transmitter, technical solutions for the provision of service unique to each such area will have to devised by the licensee with consequent unavoidable delays in the provision of service to these areas.

Would the Minister agree that the objective of policy should be to ensure that all people, in urban and rural areas, receive multi-channel choice of high quality at reasonable cost? I note that in her reply the Minister did not refer to the deflector systems that operate in many parts of the country. What is the Minister's policy in this regard, particularly considering that, for example, in her own county 6,000 homes receive television signals via these deflectors?

In answer to the fist part of the supplementary, of course I accept, as I hope do all of us, that every region of the country should, in so far as possible, have the same level of broadcasting choice and service. In relation to the second part of the question, I presume that all of us accept, and successive Governments have concluded, that it would neither be practical nor in the national interest to license such illegal deflector systems.

With all due respect to the Minister, she has not answered the question which I posed. In view of the fact that the objective of policy is to ensure multi-channel choice at reasonable cost for everyone, what are her intentions in relation to the future of illegal deflectors? What action does she intend to take to ensure the implementation of Government policy?

Action has begun on the implementation of the provision of the MMDS service to areas whose only possibility of receiving this kind of service up to now has been the illegal deflector system. The Deputy is right in that in my own area that system was operated on a large scale. As the MMDS system has come on stream, more and more people in each of the areas are opting for that system and, consequently, there is a reduction in the number of customers using the illegal deflector system. It is my policy, as it was the policy of each Minister before me, that no illegal deflector system should be licensed.

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