1.11 The investigation found that better telecommunications infrastructure would be essential to the Agency's road network operator role. The Agency accepted this conclusion and, based on information from within the Agency about future needs, estimated that demand for data transmission was likely to increase over the medium-term. The forecast was therefore consistent with the Agency's then programme of telecommunications' related projects. The Agency's implementation of this programme is subject to availability of funding, so the reliability of the demand forecast cannot be fully validated for several years.