Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 11 July 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment

National Broadband Plan: Discussion (Resumed)

Mr. Jeremy Godfrey:

It is very likely there will only be one network serving many of the premises in rural Ireland. As I said, if it is not commercially viable to build one, it is seen as less probable we will have network competition. In answer to a question that was posed to us by one of the bidders a few years ago about the interaction between regulation and the contract, of course, a rural monopolist would still be subject to regulation, potentially. If it was found to have significant market power, it would be potentially subject to regulation if it turned out the contractual obligations were no longer adequate to ensure open access, so there is that possibility. It may be a monopolist but it will have access obligations under the contract and, if necessary, supplemented under regulation later.

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