Talk the talk

Ian Guider talks to George Young, chairman of the Telecommunication and Internet Federation.

The telecoms sector has had a rough few years with falling revenues and job losses, are there any signs that the situation is improving?

It has been bad in patches and good in patches. The industry has gone through an element of restructuring, but one of the themes emerging from our conference the other day is that there are new opportunities. Firms in Ireland are identifying new opportunity for growth. The mobile sector, for instance, is looking exciting, and we are increasing our investment in broadband, and that is good for the country.

What will be the future areas of growth?

All the sectors that been buffeted around are coming back. There is now a period of stability and people are investing again. We see growth across all the various platforms. The mobile area is one area, and 3G phones are coming down the track. We are hearing of a lot of investment in broadband, and that is welcome for users, particularly business users.

The Communications Minister is unhappy with the level of investment in regional locations, do you believe the telecoms sector should invest more?

There is a very dense network across the country covering towns and cities. Operators will roll out services where it makes economic sense to do so. There have been new techniques used in areas to roll out services. They aggregate demand by getting community groups together, to make delivering the service more viable.There does seem to be a message coming from the government that they are unhappy with the industry. There will always be diverging views between us, but we are working with them in a strategy group to find the best services for Ireland.

What about the proposed levy on telcos revenues to pay for broadband internet for schools?

It is something we just don't see as appropriate.

What is your response to claims that Irish consumers are being ripped off?

Prices are very difficult to measure between countries, but surveys have shown that we are near the bottom in terms of prices, and I think that is good for consumers. One thing that we have noticed is that there doesn't seem to be the same focus on price as there had been in the past. There has been a switch in focus from price to services in Ireland.

Even for mobile phones?

I can't speak for individual members, who have made their own case, but for pre-paid phones we are the third lowest. And we will have more competition from Hutchison Whampoa when it enters the Irish market soon, giving consumers even more choice.

Broadband internet penetration is quite low. Is this because of the price of the service and the continuing rows about the roll-out and prices?

It is very much an early adopter market at the moment, but it will become a mass market activity. And compared to other OECD countries, we are marginally ahead in terms of take-up after 12 months.