Mr. Aidan Ryan:

If I could add to the comments made by my colleague, while the regulation is new, many of the principles captured in the regulations are already being applied by the telecommunications operators. If we look at a number of the major semi-state companies, the ESB has a great deal of infrastructure, which it shares with numerous telecommunications operators. For years RTE has made its masts available to facilitate people in putting key infrastructure on high sites. The mobile operators have come to sharing agreements between themselves. Rather than building two masts, they now try to consolidate into one mast to reduce the costs. Bord Gáis Éireann is another example. There has been a tradition of sharing and of operators working out these agreements together. The proof is that the models are in place, they are working, and the industry has been better served by the co-operation agreements reached. If anything, I would say that the level of co-operation between competing operators and infrastructural providers is increasing. That is being driven by competitive aspects, and we see the benefit in the costs of telecommunications in our economy.