Mr. Peter McCarthy:

Service providers have different operating models and some prefer to procure dark fibre as opposed to managed service. Enet is the only operator in the regional Irish market which openly sells both duct and dark fibre products and we price it on a per metre basis, which is a global standard for pricing such products. One metre or 100 m of dark fibre would be cheaper than 500 m normally. Depending on the distances involved in the geographical locations requiring to be linked, the price will vary. The Analysys Mason report recommends that Enet and the Department discuss price changes for dark fibre subduct and duct to ensure that customers do not find it more expensive, on average, to buy passive products that are comparable to managed service products.

When we put our pricing up on our website, as is the case with all operators that we aware of, it is maximum pricing you put up, and this has been the industry norm both in Ireland and abroad for many, many years. We published that pricing yesterday and I am going to explain to you the timing of that.

Regarding this specific point about the 50% reduction in prices yesterday, I would like to clarify this item. The Analysys Mason report was sent to us in June 2018. We had a number of discussions with the Department over June and July and a new pricing for the specific item of dark fibre of €2.60 per metre was agreed with the Department. It was also agreed that this price would be the maximum price per metre. In other words, depending on what people are buying off you that price could drop considerably. It could be down to €1 something or whatever. It depends. At that time we were asked to publish this price at the time of publication of the report by the DCCAE.

I would just like to say that in July, now, in fairness, you have to appreciate, Mr. Chairman, that I can only go on records-----