The MCA is publishing a decision entitled ‘Review of GO plc’s application for funding of the net costs claimed to have been incurred to provide universal service obligations during 2012’.  The designated Universal Service Provider has the right to submit a written request to the Authority for the funding of any unfair burden it believes it incurred to provide part or all of the universal services in line with its obligations. In September 2013, GO submitted its funding application for the unfair burden it claims to have suffered during the financial year 2012 for providing universal service obligations. GO’s claim included the following universal service obligations components: geographical component; public payphones; social tariffs; and directory enquiry services. Intangible benefits derived from providing the USOs were also taken into consideration. 

The Authority once again engaged EY as the independent body to evaluate the reasoning behind this claim and to audit and verify the various calculations used. Following this process, it emerged that GO had suffered an unfair burden for providing specific elements of the universal services. Succeeding EY’s report on the findings and conclusions of the claim, in October 2015 the MCA published a proposed decision entitled the ‘Review of GO plc’s application for funding of the net costs claimed to have been incurred to provide universal service obligations during 2012’. The Authority received feedback from one entity Melita plc and a summary of the feedback received and the final assessment of the net cost per component are in this decision. The final calculated cost amounts to €125,110. 

The allocation of the source of funding relating to GO's claim for the financial year 2012 is being addressed in a separate consultation document earmarked for publishing following the publication of this decision.