THE entitlement of legitimate industry is to expect support from the Government and its State agencies.
It is unthinkable in a modern world that government would act deliberately to undermine and damage a major industry actively engaged in a programme of expansion through the investment of huge amounts of development capital.
Yet this is the position today of the licensed cable/MMDS (microwave multipoint distribution system) industry as it awaits the deliberations of the Cabinet on proposals being put forward this morning by the Minister for Communications, Mr Dukes, to offer legal status to unlicensed UHF deflector operators.
The legal and moral right of the Minister to act in an adversarial manner against an industry heavily regulated by his Department is seriously in question. The wisdom of disrupting the programme of investment being placed in cable and "wireless systems for the future benefit of the State is hard to discern.
It has been a linchpin of the IDA promoted foreign investment programme that all commitments made to investors will be maintained. Any material changes in Government approach to the cable/MMDS industry contravene this policy.
The rights of investors and the jobs of those people employed in the industry must rate as being significantly important in the minds of responsible politicians. To disregard them in some form of unilateral legislative change that reacts only to the pressure of protest lobby groups is not only dangerous for the industry but dangerous for the country.
Only in Third World countries are contracts with the state as well as individual rights likely to be dismissed as if they no longer have currency. The effects on investment in Ireland would be dramatic in such circumstances.
The MMDS industry is driven by up front capital investment of a high magnitude. A single headend retransmission station can cost up to £500,000 before any service is provided.
The Minister has stated publicly that frequency is a valuable asset that cannot be squandered. Its use, therefore, should not be directed by the demands of protest groups to the detriment of licensed companies building infrastructures to maximise the advantage of present and future technologies for the nation.
The cable/MMDS industry in Ireland provides service to over half a million households (cable: 415,000; MMDS: 95,000) and employs over 1,000 people. MMDS was founded out of the State's determination that retransmission of television signals would be properly regulated and would be confined specifically to cable and MMDS systems. A solemn commitment was given in writing by the then Minister for Communications in 1991 that illegal UHF deflector systems would be removed.
It was on this basis that the licensed companies won the confidence of the international financial and investment community and many millions of pounds of capital expenditure was put into the development of MMDS systems.
Like the pirate radio stations before them, the illegal deflector operations were to be shut down. They flouted the broadcasting and planning laws, charged people for the service they provided illegally, contributed nothing to local or national economies because they paid no taxes or copyright royalties, and provided no identifiable form of employment.
Compared with MMDS, UHF retransmissions are cheaply operated and all companies would prefer to use UHF frequencies. The television you watch today will use signals carried on the UHF frequencies. But the national broadcast plan designates the entire UHF frequency spectrum for its sole use (RTE, TnaG, TV 3).
Commonly known as "wireless television", MMDS was to make available good quality multi channel television signals to all homes not already served by cable and it was also designed to rid the country of UHF "pirates". MMDS was modelled on systems in the US and operates at frequency levels of 2.5 Gigaherti: (40 Gigahertz is the permitted MMDS frequency in the UK) which are not compatible with your television.
Source signals must, therefore, be up converted to travel on the licensed frequency band and then they have to be down converted at the receive point (your home) to enable your television to handle the signals. MMDS is an expensive system to set up and operate.
It was because of the high level of capital investment involved that a past government was happy to give such serious commitments, including exclusive licences, to those companies awarded the licences through public tender process.
The justification of the Minister for the proposals to give legal recognition to unlicensed deflectors is based on so called competition. But he is aware that the two cannot cohabit and competition is not possible because of grossly unequal cost factors.
Neither the Minister nor the Government has tried to confer with the licensed industry. The MMDS licensed companies are consulting their legal advisers and actions for damages will take account of the failure of successive governments to honour the State's past undertakings as well as the ultimate damage caused by any breach of contract.
The courts will ultimately decide on the quantum of damages and all of us as taxpayers will end up paying the bill. But politicians will justify their actions on the grounds of "pro bono publico" which today means "give the people what they want - especially at election time".
Competition is the excuse but progress is the price. Law and order is also a victim because those who would obey the law may be trampled upon by those ignore it and organise lobby pressures on politicians. The taxpayers, as always, must bear the cost.