John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

The State has no plans to nationalise Eircom infrastructure or regain control of any part of it. The telecoms market is fully liberalised and independently regulated by ComReg in accordance with the EU regulatory framework. This is the case in all EU member states.

Privatisation of Eircom took place against a background of liberalisation of telecoms markets and was part of a broader trend, which was reflected across the EU. Several other former state-owned telecoms companies have either been fully or partially privatised by their governments. The State received over €7 billion when it privatised Eircom in 1999. This provided money to the Exchequer for the public benefit. There is no guarantee that a State-owned Eircom would provide better competition, services or innovation in our fully liberalised telecoms market.

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