Mr. Kevin O'Brien:

One of the directives we work under is the universal service directive, which enables ComReg to designate an operator as the universal service provider. Down the years, that has always been Eircom. It is currently designated. Part of the universal service obligation is to provide a fixed-line service at a nationally averaged single price to everybody in the country. That is what happens and what will continue to happen. Regardless of where one is in the country, if one obtains a fixed line from Eircom for one's house or business, there is a standard rate available. What has changed is one of the fees that Eircom charges other operators that resell its products. There is a large list of fees that Eircom charges to companies such as BT, Sky and Vodafone, which resell its services. These charges relate to leased lines for big business, the reselling of basic broadband products and all sorts of different products.

Eircom is subject to economic regulation whereby we ensure that where it has a very strong position, it does not overprice. We must also ensure it does not underprice to cut out competition. When it sells products to other operators, we put in place regimes that ensure there is a sufficient difference between the Eircom retail price and the other operator's wholesale price so the latter can run a business and have scope for a markup.