Sir, - The Government is to be congratulated on its recent decisions in regard to telecommunication services in Ireland. In spite of the derogation that was granted by the EU to the year 2000, it has taken a courageous decision to deregulate voice telephony from 1999, and require the sale of Cablelink.
These steps should encourage significant inward investment into Ireland. It should also ensure that the nation would have the advantage of the latest digital technology in communications facilities. In short, it positions Ireland well for the information economy.
The Government has also proposed that Telecom Eireann be privatised through a public offering of equity. Yet there is a strong argument to suggest that the communications network - the optical fibre, switching, and copper cables - should be held in public hands.
Just as an industrial economy is enhanced by an efficient system of roads for the physical delivery of goods and services, so an information economy is enhanced by efficient communications. The roads are maintained from the public purse and made available at no charge. Delivery trucks, taxis, buses and private vehicles use these roads to add value through services and thus improve the economy. If these had been privatised, there may have been duplication of roads by competing groups, constraints on services, and lowering of road quality.
When the incumbent telecommunications carrier also competes in basic services, it may make connection to its resources difficult or costly for others, in order to defend its market from competition. As a result, new entries have to unnecessarily duplicate facilities. Australia, for example, has tens of thousands of kilometres of fibre cables laid nationally, almost side by side, from two competing companies, Telstra and Optus. We are already seeing suggestions of duplicate resources from Esat and the BT/ESB consortium in Ireland. This is clearly not in the best interest of the country.
Ireland has the opportunity to take a significant step that would make these recent decisions even more effective. It could maintain public ownership of the telecommunications infrastructure and allow value-added services to be placed on that network. This would include innovative developments such as the new voice services enabled by the Internet.
This implies that Telecom Eireann would be split into two parts. The first, the network, would remain in public hands, while the current telephony and digital services, which use that network, would be privatised and face full competition.
It could be argued that this would significantly devalue Telecom Eireann in its privatisation and lower the yield to Government. However, the advantages of ensuring new and innovative services from private firms, the guarantee of high quality lines, and the removal of the threat of major duplication outweigh the temporary loss of revenue.
The Government, on the advice of the regulator, has the opportunity to take this important step. It should be considered as part of Ireland's move towards the information society and the information economy. - Yours, etc., Vance Gledhill,
Visiting Professor of Computer Science, Trinity College, Dublin 2.