Vol. 577 No. 4
83 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will make a statement on the barriers to number portability in the mobile phone market, including the issue of termination charges. [31245/03]
On foot of regulations which I signed into law in July this year, transposing the new EU regulatory package on electronic communications, networks and services, mobile number portability commenced in the Irish market on 25 July.
The framework regulations which I signed into law in July this year, allied to the EU Commission's relevant market recommendations, provided the statutory basis for ComReg, the independent regulator for the communications sector, to investigate the area of voice call termination on individual mobile networks. I note that ComReg has subsequently proposed imposing regulatory obligations on the main players in the mobile market with respect to voice call termination prices and that Vodafone and O2 have given undertakings this year to further reduce their mobile termination rates. I note that ComReg estimates that by summer 2004 average mobile termination rates will have fallen by over 20% from the previous three years.
