A Bill which would transform the office of the telecoms regulator and increase the penalties that could be levied on telecoms operators will be brought to Cabinet next week, the Minister for Public Enterprise said yesterday.
But the proposed Bill, which has been stalled for more than a year already, is unlikely to pass into law before the general election and could be scrapped altogether if there is a change of government. In addition, tough penalties included in a previously published outline of the legislation have been watered down significantly in the new draft.
Under an outline of the proposed Communications Bill published in September 2000, telecoms operators would have faced penalties of up to 10 per cent of their annual revenue if they broke the terms of their licences. This could have had serious consequences for larger operators such as Eircom which is currently in dispute with the telecoms regulator on several issues. If found guilty of breaching its telecoms licence in court, Eircom would have faced a potential fine of up to £200 million (€254 million) under this outline legislation.
But under the new Bill firms will face a maximum fine of just €1 million. This is a substantial increase from the current maximum fine of £1,500 but is significantly below the 10 per cent of revenue level set previously.
Mr Richard Cooke, chief executive of Esat Group, said last night he was surprised at the significant scaling back in the level of proposed fines and concerned these would not be sufficient.
"Many of the decisions we are talking about such as interconnection are worth millions of pounds to incumbent operators and a fine of €1 million could be carried," he added.
A spokeswoman for the telecoms regulator said yesterday the office did believe that substantial fines were necessary - however the office would wait to see the detail of the legislation.
A spokesman for the Minister of Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, said the level of fines had been changed following legal advice provided by the Attorney General.
It is believed this advice highlighted that fines based on percentage of revenue earned by a firm in a year may have run contrary to the Constitution.
The new Communications Bill is expected to be published next week if it gains approval from the Government. However, Ms O'Rourke outlined several of the key elements contained within the Bill at a telecoms conference organised by IBEC yesterday.
Ms O'Rourke said the main points of the Bill would transform the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation into a three person Commission.
"There is a a lot of concern about the extent of road opening by telecoms companies... [existing regulations] will be replaced by a requirement for consent from road authorities," she said.
The Bill will also set out a clear accountability framework for the new body in relation to Government, the Oireachtas, industry and the public, said Ms O'Rourke.
