When the proposed deal between Esat Digifone and the Garda Siochana - allowing the company to fit antennae on Garda radio masts - was first announced it appeared that it would be mutally beneficial. Esat's plan to lease space on radio masts at some 700 Garda stations represented a speedy and relatively inexpensive means of building up the company's network. For the Garda there were also advantages by leasing radio masts to Esat, the force would receive some £3 million worth of advanced telecommunications services annually. The Garda would, at last, gain access to a secure encrypted tele-communications network which it could link into its new £26 million computer system.
Three months on, it appears that the proposed deal may have run into the sand. Negotiations on it have still to be concluded after Esat encountered, considerable delays in gaining the necessary planning permissions. The Attorney General is now said to be examining the legality of the arrangement. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Howlin, insists that there can be no special planning exemptions for Esat; the planning law must apply to them as it would to anyone else.
Meanwhile, the Department of Just ice and the Department of Communications are also maintaining a watching brief on the issue. For Esat Digifone, the whole business could hardly be less satisfactory; a proposed arrangement which offered the most cost-effective and speediest means of delivering on its promise to launch the service next month, has suddenly become entangled in bureaucracy and regulation.
To make matters worse the old aphorism that time is money applies to Digifone more than most. The company will only be in a position to generate an income when it begins trading but a long drawn-out delay could cause fatal problems. Already, Esat Telecom Holdings, the company which owns 40 per cent of Esat Digifone, has recorded losses of over £7 million in the nine months to the end of September. The financial imperative to launch the service and build some income is very real.
That said, the issues involved here are not straightforward. Although the health risks associated with mobile phone technology are still uncertain, there is sufficient scientific and medical evidence about the effect of electromagnetic radiation to raise very real public concerns. These concerns must not be pushed to one side because of commercial pressures. The environmental impact of Esat Digifone's plans must also be addressed. Mr Howlin's case that the planning law must apply to Esat without fear or favour is sensible although it might be more persuasive had Telecom Eireann not gained a six-month planning exemption when building its Eircell network.
In restrospect, it is regrettable that the planning issue was not resolved during last year's competition for the second mobile phone licence. As things stand, there appears to be very serious doubt that Esat Digifone can launch its service next month, as scheduled. There are, indeed, important health and planning issues still unresolved. But the Government must also deliver on its original intention; that of providing some badly needed competition for Eircell.