ComReg reverses broadband price cut

COMREG, THE communications regulator, has rowed back on a decision to cut the wholesale price of an Eircom broadband product after the telecoms group challenged it in the High Court.

In June, ComReg decided to cut the wholesale price for local loop unbundling (LLU) line share from €8.41 to €2.94 a month. LLU line share allows other telecoms providers to offer a broadband service using the Eircom network.

Eircom appealed the decision to the High Court last month.

Citing the cost of contesting the appeal, the resources it would have to devote to it and the probability a judgment would not be delivered "until well into 2009", ComReg said yesterday it had "decided to set aside its decision".

The new price directed by the regulator was an interim one and would have been in place for a year. "A more detailed expert analysis has been furnished to ComReg since the announcement of the interim price which will enable a process whereby ComReg can propose a specific and substantive price to the market in place of the benchmark price previously proposed," ComReg said in a statement.

Eircom welcomed the decision and said it was actively participating in a wider industry consultation on providing wholesale access to its network.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times