Ireland: the regulator has responded to submissions to its consultation on number portability

[ComReg ] ComReg today issued its Response to Consultation Document No. 08/66 on the basis of determining the appropriate Number Portability charges from 30 November 2007 to 29 January 2009.

ComReg is of the view that it is for the operators in the first instance to meet their obligations from 30 November 2007 to 29 January 2009 in line with ComReg’s Specification of 30 November 2007 as set out in ComReg Document No 07/98. As already set out in the section above, ComReg has determined the individual operator charges, in line with Specification 1 of 30 November 2007, for those operators that provided complete and actual costing data to it. In essence, this should facilitate an efficient discharge or agreement regarding the relevant NP charge for the interim period.

However, in cases where inter-operator agreement cannot be reached on the relevant charge in the interim period this may be referred to ComReg by way of a Dispute. Regulation 31 of the Framework Regulations allows Disputes regarding obligations in connection with the Universal Service Regulations and obligations to be referred to ComReg for a Determination.

As part of any Dispute resolution, ComReg would determine the relevant cost oriented charges in line with Specification 1 of 30 November 2007. As already noted in the section above, ComReg has already, in any event, determined the relevant cost oriented charge for a number of operators that made a costing submission to it in February 2008. It should be noted that where a Dispute is raised in relation to an operator that did not provide a costing submission to ComReg previously, that it may be necessary for ComReg to request a costing information from the relevant operator so that it can assess the relevant cost oriented charge for that particular operator for the interim period. It should also be noted that where a Dispute arises in relation to an operator that provided incomplete or estimated data to ComReg as part of its previous costing submission that it maybe necessary for ComReg to request an additional costing submission to enable ComReg to assess the cost oriented charge for the interim period.

ComReg issues its Response to Consultation Document on the basis of determining the appropriate Number Portability charges from 30 November, 2007 to 29 January, 2009