Mr. Jeremy Godfrey:

Our staff have been in touch with QSAT and Avanti, who are the satellite providers. Briefly the way it works is Avanti is a company that owns some satellites and QSAT is one of four companies that service in Ireland based on the Avanti satellites. We understand there was a commercial difference between QSAT and Avanti, which has led to that relationship breaking down. Our understanding, from talking to them, is that at present QSAT customers are still receiving service from Avanti. When they go onto their service they get a pop-up advising them to get service with one of the other companies that provide the Avanti service, but at present people have not lost service. I understand QSAT customers pay in arrears and a small number of customers who have paid in advance have been refunded. There is still an opportunity for all of those QSAT customers to switch to one of the other service providers and retain service. We are in touch with QSAT and Avanti to monitor the situation. In the regulations, there is an obligation on people to inform us when there is a prospective cessation of service. When we see that cessation of service, our role is to ensure customers are informed about what will happen and, as in this case, use our good offices to speak to the operators concerned to try to encourage some way of achieving continuity of service. We get notified when these problems arise and we try to do something about them. As I have said, at present QSAT customers are getting a bit of free service for a short while, during which time they have an opportunity to switch to something else.