The State’s largest telco, Eir, has agreed to pay a fine of €2.8 million for failing to allow other companies access to documentation about its infrastructure.
Rival companies use Eir’s network – poles, ducts, chambers – to roll out their own cable technologies and the former State monopoly is obliged by law to give them access.
To facilitate this, Eir is required to provide access to its passive access records (PAR), which contain the location, physical characteristics and current use of the infrastructure – vital information for companies wishing to use the network.
Following a five-year investigation, regulator ComReg found Eir had failed “to comply with access and non-discrimination obligations” in relation to PAR.
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ComReg applied to the High Court in 2022 seeking “declarations of noncompliance, orders directing compliance by Eircom and remedying its noncompliance” and “requesting that the High Court impose a financial penalty on Eircom”.
The case was settled this week, with Eir agreeing to pay a financial penalty of €2.8 million and make a contribution of €200,000 to ComReg’s costs in the proceedings.
The regulator said the company also admitted it “failed to provide full access to information, specifically PAR, to other undertakings under the same conditions and of the same quality as Eircom provides to itself, its subsidiaries, affiliates or partners”.
Eir and ComReg have crossed swords on several occasions over the company’s compliance with regulations. Last year ComReg fined Eir almost €2.45 million and ordered it to repay tens of thousands of customers it had overcharged over a period of several years.
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