STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS.

S.I. No. 438 of 1999.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS TARIFF REGULATION (MODIFICATION) ORDER, 1999.

S.I. No. 438 of 1999.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS TARIFF REGULATION (MODIFICATION) ORDER, 1999.

I, ETAIN DOYLE, Director of Telecommunications Regulation, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 7(5) of the Telecommunications (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1996 (No. 34 of 1996) , as extended by Regulation 8(3) and (8) of the European Communities (Voice Telephony and Universal Service) Regulations, 1999 ( S.I. No. 393 of 1996 ), having reviewed that Order and seeing fit to modify it, hereby order as follows:

1. (1) This Order may be cited as the Telecommunications Tariff Regulation (Modification) Order, 1999.

(2) This Order shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 2000.

2. In this Order--

“the Principal Order” means the Telecommunications Tariff Regulation Order, 1996 ( S.I. No. 393 of 1996 ).

3. Article 1 of the Principal Order is hereby modified by the substitution for subarticle (3) thereof of the following:

(3) “Except as provided for in Article 2 of this Order in the definition of “lower quartile bill”, this Order shall apply to the telecommunications services specified in the First Schedule to this Order and provided by the company.”

4. Article 2 of the Principal Order is hereby modified--

(a) in the definition of “the company” by the substitution for “Bord Telecom Éireann” of “eircom plc”;

(b) by the insertion of the following new definition after the definition of “connection and takeover charge”:

“‘the Director’ means the director of Telecommunications Regulation appointed under the Act of 1996;”;

(c) by the deletion of the definition of “international dialled call”;

(d) by the insertion in the definition of “local dialled call” of “in the State or in Northern Ireland” after “another telephone group”;

(e) by the insertion in the definition of “lower quartile bill” of “(including telecommunications services other than those referred to in the First Schedule)” after “telecommunications services”;

(f) by the insertion of the following new definition after the definition of “trunk dialled calls”;

“vulnerable user scheme” means any discount scheme which has been approved as such by the Director and which is aimed at vulnerable groups of users, within the meaning of Regulation 8(2) of the European Communities (Voice Telephony and Universal Service) Regulations, 1999 ( S.I. No. 71 of 1999 ); and

(g) by the deletion of the definition of “weekend trunk dialled call”.

5. The Principal Order is hereby modified by the substitution for Article 4 thereof of the following Article:

“4. (1) The Minister hereby specifies CPI -- 8% to be the price cap in respect of the basket of telecommunications services to which this Order applies.

(2) Without prejudice to subarticle (1) of this Article, the following adjustments to the price cap formula shall apply:

(a) in respect of any individual service (other than directory enquiry calls) contained in the basket of telecommunications services, the price cap shall be CPI + 2%, and

(b) in respect of the lower quartile bill the price cap shall be CPI + 0%.”.

6. Article 5 of the Principal Order is hereby amended in sub-article (2) by the substitution for “Article 4(2)(c)’ of “Article 4(2)(b)”.

7. The Principal Order is hereby amended by the substitution for Article 6 thereof of the following Article:

“6. Notwithstanding Article 4 of this Order, the Director may make the following adjustments to the price cap formula:

(a) to the extent that the company has made, during any relevant year, a reduction in charges that is greater than the reduction required by subarticle (1) of that Article, the difference may be taken into account by the Director in applying the said subarticle (1) in the relevant years subsequent to the relevant year in which the reductions were made;

(b) to the extent that the company has made, during any relevant year, an increase in charges (including an increase of 0%) that is less than any increase allowed under subarticle (2)(a) of that Article, the amount by which those increases are less than the increase so allowed may be carried forward and added to the increase allowed for the individual service in question in the relevant years subsequent to the relevant year in which the increase was made.”

8. The First Schedule to the Principal Order is hereby modified:

(a) by the substitution for:

“The provision of telephone exchange lines;

The provision of Integrated Services Digital Network lines;”

of “The provision of telephone exchange lines and Integrated Services Digital Network lines;”,

(b) by the substitution for “Trunk dialled calls (except for weekend trunk dialled calls)” of “Trunk dialled calls”;

(c) by the deletion of “Weekend dialled calls;”, and

(d) by the deletion of “International dialled calls”.

9. (1) Part 1 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Order is hereby amended--

(a) by the insertion after “light user scheme” of “or vulnerable user scheme”,

(b) by the insertion after “calculated” of “in accordance with a method to be specified by the Director after consultation with the company”, and

(c) by the substitution for “of bills for the service ‘i’ specified and applied by the company with the consent of the Minister” of “(approved of by the Director after consultation with the company) of call records for the service ‘i’ provided by the company”.

(2) Part 2 of the Second Schedule to the Principal Order is hereby amended--

(a) by the insertion after “light user scheme” of “or vulnerable user scheme”.

(b) by the insertion after “calculated” of “in accordance with a method to be specified by the Director after consultation with the company”, and

(c) by the substitution for “of bills for the service ‘i’ specified and applied by the company with the consent of the Minister” of “(approved of by the Director after consultation with the company) of call records for the service ‘i’ provided by the company”.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation.)

This Order amends the Telecommunications Tariff Regulation Order, 1996 to provide that the price cap on certain services provided by eircom must be reduced by an amount at least equal to the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index -- 8%. A number of other adjustments are made including the removal of international calls from the price cap, the removal of restrictions on increases in directory enquiry call charges and various matters in relation to measuring compliance.