Vol. 518 No. 5
103 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if her attention has been drawn to the long delay for small business getting an ISDN line as in a case of a person (details supplied) who is waiting over five months; her views on whether this is seriously hampering small businesses; and the plans, if any, she has to overcome this infrastructural bottleneck. [12293/00]
I am aware of some very unacceptable delays in the provision of ISDN lines to small businesses. This is unacceptable both for the businesses themselves and for the economy generally. Ready availability of ISDN lines and equivalent services at reasonable prices is essential to the continued success of the economy and I would expect to see such services available here under similar conditions as is available in other countries.
A number of steps have been taken by my Department and the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation in an attempt to overcome such problems.
In the case of Eircom, following a consultation process initiated by the Director of Telecommunications Regulation, the company has introduced service level agreements, SLAs, to ensure that services such as ISDN lines are delivered within a reasonable timeframe. However, these SLAs only cover services offered by Eircom to other licensed telecoms operators. I understand that there is provision in Eircom's licence to allow the director to impose similar conditions on Eircom in regard to services offered to retail customers but the decision to take any action in this regard is solely a matter for the director. It is my understanding that to impose such obligations in a competitive retail market would be contrary to the stated aims of promoting light-handed regulation in a liberalised telecommunications market.
The director has also embarked upon a programme measuring key performance indicators such as service provisioning, complaints handling and the number of faults. These figures will be ready for publication next year.
Finally, in co-operation with my Department, the ODTR is well upon the way to licensing alternative platforms for the delivery of high speed data services such as digital cable and wireless in the local loop. This will promote competition in the provision of such services and alleviate any bottlenecks that may exist.
