April 11 2001

Progress of Local Loop Unbundling

A&L Goodbody | Tech, Data, Telecoms & Media - Ireland


The Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR) has issued a further status report on the implementation of local loop unbundling in Ireland (Implementation of Local Loop Unbundling in Ireland - Status Report Information Notice, March 2001, Doc ODTR 01/15). The ODTR has issued two previous information notices on the subject (ODTR 00/99 and ODTR 01/01).

The latest report discusses developments towards the unbundling of the local loop and identifies key issues to be resolved, including the following:

  • Provision of information - the information supply process set out in eircom's Reference Access Offer has not been effective. This issue is a priority for the ODTR, to be resolved by the end of March 2001.

  • Pricing - the ODTR is carrying out a detailed review and analysis of eircom's cost justification and pricing principles for local loop unbundling and related facilities. While progress has been made on pricing, information is still required from eircom on historic and long-run incremental cost pricing to complete the ODTR assessment. A further update on pricing will be issued by the end of March 2001.

  • Process development - progress has been made towards the development of new process documentation to support, for example, ordering and maintenance. It is expected that a draft process manual will be presented for industry approval before the end of March 2001.

  • Types of unbundling - the director of telecommunications regulation considers that it may be sensible to focus on the inclusion in the Reference Access Offer of services for which there is a commercial focus. The director has invited proposals in this regard.

  • Bitstream access - the introduction of a type of unbundled access (bitstream) by eircom has been mandated by the ODTR. However, eircom has indicated that it is reviewing its equipment supplier, which will have consequences for the April 2001 target date.


For further information on this topic please contact David Sanfey at A & L Goodbody by telephone (+353 1 649 2000) or by fax (+353 1 649 2649) or by e-mail ([email protected]).
The materials contained on this web site are for general information purposes only and are subject to the disclaimer.