2018 was a busy year for telecoms in Ireland. In addition to
major M&A activity (the acquisition of incumbent eir by Xavier
Niel's group Iliad, the acquisition of fixed wireless provider
Imagine by Brookfield and the completion of the two stage sale of
enet and Airspeed to the Irish Infrastructure Fund), there were
significant developments on the regulatory front.
Telecoms Regulatory Updates
Milestone reached between Incumbent and Regulator
In June 2017, the Commission for Communications Regulation
(ComReg) heralded a new approach to enforcement in the area of
wholesale regulation. In particular, ComReg brought a set of
enforcement proceedings against eir before the High Court seeking
the imposition of significant financial penalties pursuant to
provisions of the Access Regulations 2011, as yet untested. eir
issued separate proceedings against the State challenging the
validity of the provisions relied upon by ComReg (ComReg was joined
as a co-defendant at its
