ComReg blocks eircom’s wholesale product until it can prove regulatory compliance

According to reports in Irish online news portal siliconrepublic.com, the country’s telecoms regulator, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), has blocked eircom’s plan to launch a new wholesale bitstream product until the former monopoly can prove the offering is fully compliant with its regulatory obligations. Last month eircom announced its intention to usher in a capacity-based bitstream product for its wholesale customer. However a spokesperson for ComReg now says: ‘eircom were to commence taking orders on 24 September but we’ve asked them not to launch the product until they can demonstrate to ComReg that it is compliant with regulatory obligations including wholesale access.’ The regulator’s decision has been welcomed by the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators (ALTO), which had argued that eircom’s new product would have an adverse impact on competition in the broadband market. ALTO says the move would effectively make it more profitable for companies to resell eircom’s wholesale product rather than pursue the introduction of full local loop unbundling (LLU) services.