The Savoy cinema in Dublin dismantled a device that it used to encrypt the signals from a mobile phone after the Commission intervened in the communications regulation.
The Irish Times reported on Thursday in the ticket insert that the O’Connell Street cinema used such devices.
Yesterday the cinema dismantled the device and plans to dispose of it on Monday.
The Savoy installed a device called a handy cell phone jammer to prevent people inside the auditorium from making or receiving calls.
“What we had was a very low power device that only affected the Savoy 1 auditorium,” said Mark Anderson, operations manager for the Ward Anderson Group, which operates the Savoy complex.
“I thought the legal situation was much less clear than it turned out.”
Anderson believes that cell phones in cinemas are not just a nuisance, but a potential threat to public order and can cause ugly confrontations between viewers.
Niall McCaughey, head of Spectrum Compliance at the Commission for Communications Regulation, says he has considerable sympathy for the plight of Anderson and his customers.
“I totally understand the point and agree with it,” he says. “Unfortunately, it’s still illegal.”
This is the first time that Mr. McCaughey has been made aware of a mobile jammer operating in Ireland, although he suspects there are others.
“We’ve heard about this kind of thing for about three years now,” he said.
“This is the first one I’ve seen here, even though I’ve put it up for sale on some Irish websites.
“But you can’t put it on the market if it doesn’t comply.”
Mr. Anderson said the Savoy imported the device from the United States, where it is also prohibited to operate but not export it.
McCaughey says the device violates the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1926, which requires a license for wireless radios and prohibits interference with existing licensees.
It also violates EU directives on the sale or use of such devices and on blocking access to emergency services.
The MobileBlocker sends an interference signal on the same frequencies as the three mobile phone providers Vodafone, O2 and Meteor.
Anderson believes that the peace and tranquility of thousands of Dublin cinema-goers is once again disrupted by the annoying sounds of custom ringtones, beeping messages, and uninterrupted text listening.
But Mr. McCaughey has only hope of solving the problem. Since the bandwidth belongs to the three mobile operators, they could agree to install “special cells” in certain locations. These still allow access to emergency numbers and block normal incoming and outgoing calls.
Attempts to develop these systems in other European countries, such as the Netherlands, have met with little interest from the telephone companies, which have little benefit from them.
However, Mr. Anderson is determined to continue fighting and “highlight the injustice of this situation”.
In the meantime, anyone wanting to watch a movie over a weekend should know what is going on in Savoy 1. It’s Colin Farrell in Phone Booth.
In my opinion, the rational use of jammers should play out its reasonable value and protect its legitimate rights and interests.