It is ironic that even as the debate flows on the important issues of ownership and development of the national telecom assets, the consumer has been obliged to endure a significant deterioration in a key area of the service - the cellular network.
As the telecom system has grown and developed over recent years, consumers have become accustomed to a steady improvement. New products and processes have become available, making a happily distant memory of the days when one needed the personal intervention of a TD or even a Cabinet Minister to have a line installed. The paradox now is that as Eircell squares up to meet private sector competition and with Telecom Eireann itself preparing for possible new partnerships, there is growing consumer dissatisfaction with at least some existing services.
The Chief Executive of Eircell, Mr Stephen Brewer, himself lately arrived from France Telecom, is disarmingly frank about the deterioration of the cellular system. Eircell is a victim of its own success, he says, with a huge rate of growth in mobile connections. But his assertion that there are few businesses whose processes and people can withstand 50 per cent growth in six months is a touch too self serving. Eircell cannot have been taken by surprise by what has happened. It went out looking for the business, advertising widely and selling hard. The growth in mobile sales has mirrored the pattern abroad. Mr Brewer may well have arrived in the middle of the script and he is obliged to make the best case he can. But it is feeble enough.
The reality is that Eircell's analogue system (the 088 numbers) is creaking, as too many subscribers seek to work it. Calls do not connect, or they break down, or they connect through to third party conversations. And much of this is not new. Most users have been able for years to predict the precise places where the faults will occur. The digital system which is now being introduced (the 087 numbers) will, in time, replace the analogue. But as matters stand, much of the promotional material for the digital or GSM system seriously misrepresents its present capabilities. Advertising which depicts the GSM system as an effective communications link throughout whole countries is misleading since it is still confined, in many instances, to the cities, larger towns and to the motorway networks. Very large areas of Ireland, north and south, have no GSM coverage at all. In fairness to Eircell, most other European telecom companies similarly exaggerate the present capabilities of the system.
All of these matters will come right, says Eircell, when the present programme of capital investment is completed. Mr Brewer himself is clearly - and understandably - anxious to have his house in order before the advent of private competition from ESAT by the end of this year. The consumer will be glad of it - whatever the factors impelling Eircell to belated action.
In the meantime the general public is happily signing up in ever increasing numbers for a service which too often fails to deliver what it promises. The tens of thousands of new purchasers of mobile telephones are buying into a system which is seriously handicapped through its failure to provide for its own planned expansion. The consumer is effectively funding Eircell until the company gets it right. It is a curious compact, to say the least. But the fact is that the mobile telephones are flying off the shelves as quickly as the retailers can stock them. Without doubt, the system represents one of the most marvellous conveniences of the age. And as the late Brendan Behan reportedly said when he saw Toronto, won't it be grand when they finish it?