Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 15 Apr 1997

Vol. 477 No. 5

Written Answers. - MMDS Charges.

Willie O'Dea

Question:

338 Mr. O'Dea asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications the domestic rate charges imposed by Irish Multichannel Limited on a monthly, quarterly, biannual and annual basis for pre-1 March 1997, and post-1 March 1997; the percentage increase for each on a monthly, quarterly, biannual and annual basis; his views on whether these increases are exorbitant; and the investigations, if any, he proposes to have made into this matter. [9694/97]

Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications (Mr. Dukes)

Irish Multichannel introduced the following price increases for its basic domestic MMDS service on 1 March 1997.

Frequency of Payment	Previous Charge	Current Charge	Percentage Increase
	(£)	(£)	(%)
Annually	170.00	179.00	5.3
6-Monthly	90.00	96.00	6.7
3-Monthly	49.00	51.00	4.1
Monthly	18.00	18.50	2.8

The company has indicated that it introduced these increases to cover increases in its operating costs, such as programming costs, copyright costs and operating overheads.

As the Deputy will know, unlike the statutory provisions which apply to cable relay charges, increases to the annual rental charge for MMDS services do not require my prior approval. However, under the Regulations which govern MMDS I may investigate the charges being applied by a licensee in respect of the service being provided.

While I will keep the matter under review, I do not consider these increases to be exorbitant and have no plans to investigate them further at this time.