Seamus Brennan
Ceist:20 Mr. S. Brennan asked the Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications if he will make the evaluation criteria for the award of the second mobile licence available to those consortia that were unsuccessful. [2180/96]
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Second Mobile Licence Award.
The evaluation criteria used in the competition for the award of the licence to become Ireland's second mobile operator were published in the competition documentation which was issued to interested parties in March last year. Consequently all the consortia who submitted applications in the GSM competition had access to the selection criteria at the outset.
Since the announcement of the winner in this competition, I have on several occasions made public the criteria which were applied in evaluating the six applications received. Should the Deputy wish, I would be happy to provide him with a copy. These published criteria were the only ones taken into account in the evaluation of applications.
I want to emphasise that this process was conducted in a manner which was totally fair, impartial and objective.
Secretive.
The project team led by my Department and including independent consultants, Andersen Management International, reached a single unanimous result which I accepted and which was approved by Government. The thoroughness of the comparative approach adopted by the evaluators left no question as to the clear-cut result which is clearly documented in the consultants' report on the outcome of the evaluation.
Publish it.
I cannot help feeling at this stage that the continued questioning of the result of the competition process is casting aspersions on the integrity of the project team led by my Department which carried out the evaluation on the winning consortium. Is this the intention of those who are continuing to question the result? I can only emphasise again that there were no considerations other than those clearly established at the outset of the competition and of which all the competitors were clearly aware.
It is the lack of transparency that is being questioned.
I want to make it clear that nobody in this House is questioning anybody's integrity and the Minister should not have included that word in his reply. Is the Minister aware of the views of the unsuccessful tenderers, and has he found any mechanism for dealing with those views? In awarding the contract, the Minister knows I am one of the few people in this House who supported him in accepting a lower rather than an inflated price for this tender. I did that because I believed the competition would be based on the price charged to the consumer — the cost of the telephone call. Did the competition take place on that basis? Does the Minister have assurances that there will be genuine competition in regard to the cost of calls between the new entrant and the existing player in the field? Can we expect real competition because of the conditions the Minister laid down in determining that this contest should take place? In other words, was there a real contest on charges or are we likely to have no competition on charges?
The objective of the exercise in licensing a second mobile telephone operator was to introduce competition to this sector. By placing a cap on the entry fee we ensured the emphasis was on the business plan. The great interest in the contest resulted in competition in the key areas of that plan and I was anxious to ensure that the price of telephone hardware and tariff charges would be reduced. I am satisfied that there will be a large reduction in tariff charges in the very near future.
Is that part of the deal done with ESAT?
Yes.
There will be competition charges?
There is competition in regard to tariffs. Whenever people compete for business there is always competition.
Is that part of the deal?
The Deputy should allow me to answer. All one has to do is consider what has happened since I announced my intention of licensing a second mobile telephone operator. There has already been a dramatic reduction in the price of hardware and a significant reduction in tariff charges. I expect we will have further reductions as soon as the second operator is established.
The price of calls will go down?
Yes.
That is what we want to hear.