Straight shooter bows out after six tough years at top

Ms Etain Doyle's decision to step down from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) surprised few people in the telecoms sector yesterday.

Most insiders didn't expect Ms Doyle to be content taking a back seat on the Commission after founding and leading the State's first regulatory body since 1997.

And in any event, new legislation introduced last year by the Minister for Communications, Mr Dermot Ahern, would have forced her to stand down in 2004.

Ms Doyle's fiercely independent and at times headstrong leadership style brought her into conflict with politicians and many of the firms she regulated.

This was evident early in her tenure when she initially refused to attend an Oireachtas committee hearing on the basis that her office was independent. At a future meeting of the committee she refused to back down, saying her office's work was "not within the ambit of this committee".

Not one to be intimidated by political power, she also crossed swords with the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, over the price of the new third-generation (3G) mobile phone licences.

Ms Doyle argued for lower prices to boost interest in the 3G licences, while Mr McCreevy wanted to boost State coffers by charging a high fee.

After a one year stand-off on the issue, Ms Doyle announced one of the cheapest licence fees in Europe.

But such high-profile clashes with the political elite didn't help her cause with Government. And an extremely poor relationship between Ms Doyle and the Department of Communications probably contributed to her decision to step down early.

A bitter dispute over whether she should get a State car and continued wrangling over her pension has marred her final year as chairwoman. Ms Doyle's lawyers even sought a gagging order to prevent the Department leaking details of the issue to the media.

This battle, which is marked by deep personality clashes on both sides, led the Department to cap ComReg's staff at 120 and subsequently create a commission of three people, rather than maintain a single telecoms regulator.

Appropriately, Ms Doyle's decision to step down early next year comes at a watershed for the regulation of the telecoms sector.

Over the next few months, a new package of EU directives will move the emphasis of regulation in Europe towards a more pro-competition regime. This may remove some of ComReg's regulatory powers and force a more subtle regulatory approach.

Ms Doyle's legacy is the creation of Ireland's first regulatory body ComReg, which despite attacks from politicians and industry has managed to retain its independence and, crucially, project a sense of fairness.

Despite making few friends among the male-dominated telecoms industry, most executives say she is a "straight shooter."

But ComReg's efforts to kick-start competition in the telecoms market are currently in trouble.

An effective duopoly in the mobile market - caused by the late entry of Meteor into the Irish market due to a court challenge - means Irish users spend more on mobile calls than people in any other EU state.

And Eircom's dominance in the fixed-line market seems unbreakable with its market share increasing at the expense of a few competitors.

Ms Doyle can point to poor Government decisions in relation to the sell-off of Eircom's network and the creation of weak regulatory enforcement powers to explain the difficult market. She can also attribute the fall-off in competition to the recent slump in worldwide telecoms markets.

But Eircom, Vodafone and O2's dominance of the market will remain crunch issues for years to come. And ComReg will have to work hard to ensure users get better value for money and firms gain access to efficient telecoms.