Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

We will certainly invite ComReg and I understand the joint committee is in the processing of doing so. In the meantime, policy is laid down by the Minister, not ComReg. When he talks about 70% coverage, he is referring to population; the figure is about 50% in the case of territory. It is interesting to note that the figure for Germany is 90% and for the United Kingdom, 95%. Is it Government policy to ensure that when spectrum is awarded via auction, there will be as near to 100% coverage as possible? The Minister can probably argue that in the case of RTE there is 99.99% coverage. It is virtually 100%, although we will probably settle for slightly less. We must be careful, however, because if the Minister refers to a target of 95% of the population, that may cover only 80% or 85% of the territory of the State owing to the population imbalance between different areas.

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