I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 89 and 94 together.
The regulation of the telecommunications industry is a matter for the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, the independent regulator. I am responsible for policy and legislation for the sector. In March 2003, my predecessor issued policy directions to ComReg, including a direction on competition.
This direction required ComReg to focus on the promotion of competition as a key objective and, where necessary, to implement remedies which counteract or remove barriers to market entry and shall support entry by new players to the market and entry into new sectors by existing players. The direction required ComReg to have a particular focus on: market share of new entrants; ensuring that the applicable margin attributable to a product at the wholesale level is sufficient to promote and sustain competition; price level to the end user; competition in the fixed and mobile markets; and the potential of alternative technology delivery platforms to support competition.
The policy directions also require ComReg, if ComReg's market analysis process finds a lack of competition in the mobile market, to examine mandating the introduction of national roaming. It is true that Ireland's, post-pay mobile phone costs in Ireland remain higher than the EU average, but also true that in August 2004 the OECD found we had the fourth lowest costs for pre-paid mobile phones. It is important in considering the price competitiveness to the end user to make a judgement across telecommunications services. Furthermore, the current penetration rate of mobile phones of 89% indicates that Irish business and consumers have a range of products and pricing options which broadly meet their needs.
On 12 October 2004 ComReg submitted a progress report on the May 2004 policy directions, which my officials are examining. With regard to fixed line pricing, ComReg indicate that total end-user pricing for both the residential and business sectors in Ireland remains competitive. In terms of the business community, prices for the standard basket puts us in sixth place in Europe.
In the residential market Ireland is placed in ninth position. In terms of international calls we are in fourth and sixth place, respectively. This finding is supported by similar benchmarking research by the OECD in relation to international calls which found that Irish international call tariffs to be significantly below the average particularly for off-peak calls. Analysis in the National Competitive Council's report on telecommunications indicates that overall prices have fallen in the past five years by over 9% and these reductions have contributed to a 1% overall reduction in inflation.
I also welcome the fact that in July of this year Meteor reached agreement with O2 that allows meteor national roaming on O2's network. This should facilitate greater choice and competition for the consumer and next year we will have more competition with the launch of Hutchinson "3" 3G services.