Written Answers. - Internet Charges.
Pat Rabbitte
Question:
159
Mr. Rabbitte
asked the
Minister for Public Enterprise
her views on whether Ireland's competitiveness is being undermined by the high cost of Internet charges; the measures which are planned to redress the balance between access charges here and other developed countries; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
[3427/02]
Competitiveness is a key priority for the Government. Maintaining and improving our competitiveness is the basis on which we can remain a successful economy into the future. There are many factors that influence competitiveness and one of these is business input costs. Among these costs is the cost of Internet access.
An analysis of dial-up Internet access prices is contained in the EU Commission's recently published Seventh Report on the Implementation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Package in Member States (COM 2001 706 final, 26 November 2001). The Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation has taken several steps to support dial-up Internet access and in particular it has opened two new non-geographic codes for use in accessing internet service providers, ISPs.
Government policy is to facilitate the roll-out of state of the art infrastructures and to provide the legislative and regulatory environment which will serve to make a major contribution to sustained macro-economic growth and the realisation of competitively priced, high quality services.
Government proposals on regulatory reform of the communications sector are designed to ensure that the regulatory conditions in Ireland are effective in stimulating a competitive market for communications services, including Internet services. In this regard the draft Communications (Regulation) Bill will enhance the regulatory framework so as to further facilitate the development of the sector while ensuring that appropriate elements of the public interest are taken into account.
The Bill is currently being drafted in the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government. It is my intention to have the Bill published in the next few weeks and, time permitting, to have it enacted before the Easter recess.
Also, low cost high speed Internet access is seen as a key element of the Government's communication policy. Under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, €200 million of public funds have been earmarked to leverage investment in advance communications infrastructure and services. The focus of this investment will be to support investment in communications and electronic commerce infrastructure, systems and services in less developed areas.
