Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It is similar to fixed fibre or broadband connectivity. First and foremost, it is a matter of having a big and competitive market with a number of mobile operators, and we have had that. On the European analysis that shows how we compare to other European countries, one can never be fully satisfied and as the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach said, there are always going to be black spots where coverage is not as fast as we would want. However, by and large, we have seen a competitive market and investment by the likes of Vodafone, Three and others. The real trick is to maintain a competitive and collaborative market. That may sound counterintuitive. It is a difficult investment. In truth, the network companies have not seen as large a slice of the profits as some of the content companies on the networks. Like in many of these areas, the likes of Google, Facebook and others are profiting from these revolutionary networks. The network providers, by comparison, have had a more difficult job maintaining their revenue. We want a competitive market but we also want it to be collaborative so that some of the costs can be reduced by having shared antennae and good spectrum management, as it were. Going back a number of years, the State, in delivering its broadband objectives, has been trying to foster a competitive and collaborative market. ComReg's job is to continue to review that situation and ensure we have both. I accept the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's point that there are areas where that needs to be enhanced but in general, the quality of coverage on our mobile networks, looking at any European chart, is of a reasonably high standard, particularly given the dispersed and low population density of our country.