John Gerard Hanafin (Fianna Fail)

I ask for a debate on the mobile telephone industry in this country. Currently, we have a duopoly which makes fine profits. The Eircell wing of Eircom was sold to Vodafone at a discounted price. The successful creation of a duopoly has resulted in keeping other players out of the market. Vodafone and O2 together have 95% of the market. Meteor has no opportunity to grow because of the refusal of both players to allow Meteor to use its licence and coverage. They have also succeeded in keeping out NVNO operators. Vodafone is making significant profits of €400 million a year. Last week a request issued from this House with regard to blocking pornography coming through on telephones which would be quite easy to do as there are only a few telephone suppliers such as Nokia. However, I saw a reply in the newspaper saying that people have a right to send and transmit these images. Many pay-as-you-go mobile telephones are bought by adults for children. I ask for a debate on this serious issue. No action will be taken unless we request it and the Leader writes to ComReg.