Vol. 498 No. 3
12 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Public Enterprise when she will publish the Telecommunications (Infrastructure) Bill; if her attention has been drawn to the number of telecommunications masts which are shared by mobile phone companies; if she will make it mandatory for these companies to share their masts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26912/98]
I hope to be in a position to publish the Telecommunications (Infrastructure) Bill in the near future.
With regard to the sharing of telecommunications masts by mobile phone operators, Esat Digifone and Eircell have recently entered into negotiations on mast sharing and sharing agreements have already been finalised for a number of masts.
With regard to the Deputy's query on the possibility of mandatory mast sharing, the Interconnection Regulations, SI No. 15 of 1998, which I signed into law earlier this year, promotes infrastructure sharing by establishing a dispute resolution procedure under which operators may request the Director of Telecommunications Regulation to intervene to resolve disputes over infrastructure sharing agreements. The director may in any intervention impose mandatory sharing if this is deemed appropriate in the circumstances.
Proposals for infrastructure sharing have been included in the Telecommunications (Infrastructure) Bill. The final decision on the contents of the Bill will be made in consultation with my Cabinet colleagues.
