Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources if he will consider issuing a Ministerial directive under the 2002 Communications Act to inscribe in law the principle of equity for line rental for all broadband consumers and to ensure that rural broadband users are not in effect paying extra to subsidise a broadband company's operation in urban areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9252/13]

Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Line rental charges form part of the universal service obligation (USO) in the telecommunications market. The purpose of this USO is to ensure that all citizens can access basic telecommunications services at fixed locations at reasonable prices. The USO in the telecommunications market is provided for in both EU legislative acts, Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament, as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC and national legislation, the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Universal Service and User’s Rights) Regulations 2011 – S.I. No.337 of 2011.

The current USO requires that at least one service provider is designated to provide telecommunications access at fixed locations, access to telephone directories, reasonable access to payphones and specific measures for people with disabilities all at reasonable access prices by regulating connection fees and line rental charges.

The national legislation authorises the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) to designate one or more service providers to perform the USO. In June 2012 ComReg extended, until June 2014, a universal service obligation addressed to Eircom, which among other things, requires that line rental for basic fixed line telephone services is available to end users at a standard price across the country. There is therefore no line rental price differentiation between urban and rural areas and nor is there is any proposal to amend this obligation at this time.