ESB Telecom to provide first nationwide broadband coverage

viking

The Irish Independent also reports that ESB Telecom is to provide the first nationwide broadband coverage in Ireland before Christmas. The fast-access service will result in cheaper broadband services, and in some areas will provide broadband access where none previously existed. ESB Telecom will target the service at operators such as UTV Internet, Esat BT and Eircom, says the paper, but in the longer term it could be offered to the retail market.

http://www.enn.ie/frontpage/news-9380721.html

viking

viking

Full article from Unison.ie

ESB Telecom is poised to switch on its €50m fast internet access service, marking its return to the telecoms sector by providing the first nationwide wholesale broadband coverage in Ireland.

The service will go live before Christmas with the Northern Loop, linking Dublin with the North-West and South-West of the country from Dundalk down to Clare, close to finalisation, the Irish Independent has learned.

It is believed that the completion of the loop could help the push towards cheaper broadband services around the country, in addition to the provision of services where there is no coverage by existing telecoms providers piggybacking on the ESB network.

Ireland currently has very low broadband penetration and little competition in the sector.

Initially, ESB Telecom will remain a carrier's carrier, or a wholesale provider, but it is believed that in the longer term the company could provide a retail service.

It will target operators like Eircom, Esat BT and UTV internet with its services which it will provide by wrapping its power lines with broadband-enabled fibre optic cables.

Currently Eircom, Ireland's main telecoms operator, has 60pc broadband coverage around the country with 70pc coverage expected by the end of the year, but unlike ESB it can provide retail services in the areas it has coverage.

The ESB is still testing the retail market, and is currently operating a pilot programme in Co Galway in association with the Department of Communications.

It is believed that the State electricity supplier does not have the resources at present to make a full-scale move into the retail market.

Apart from Eircom, the ESB is the only potential retail provider that has access into every home in the country, and would therefore be able to offer consumers discounted services.

The ESB is in a position to roll out broadband services faster than standard networks because it does not require any digging up of roads.

The electricity provider switched on the first part of its network, the Southern Loop, earlier this year. It links Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Waterford.

ESB first entered the telecoms sector when it set up Ocean in the mid-1990s with British Telecom. The State company made a profit of around €130m when it sold its Ocean stake to BT in 2000.

Prior to the sale, it dropped a High Court challenge to BT's £1.9bn agreed bid for telecoms firm Esat.

The State-owned company had argued that Ocean's shareholder agreement with BT precluded the British firm from competing in the telecoms market against Ocean.

Ailish O'Hora

Ronan

so, basically there would be no line test or even a need for a phone line for this ? My God that would be great, If that is the case I'm cancelling my phone line completly!!

Paddy20

It had to happen, it was rumoured a long time ago, and now it will happen. Let justice prevail?..

P.:ninja:

Ronan

The thought of never giving another penny to Eircom makes me feel all warm inside I just hope this is a reality.

SkepticOne

This article is about regional fibre. The ESB's network is in a sort of figure of eight. The Southern part has been operational for some time. This article is about the Northern part being switched on.

Eircom will still have the last mile monopoly although, regional networks like the ESB's should facilitate alternative last mile infrastructure build but this will take time.

BigEejit

Originally posted by viking
Initially, ESB Telecom will remain a carrier's carrier, or a wholesale provider, but it is believed that in the longer term the company could provide a retail service.
...............................
It is believed that the State electricity supplier does not have the resources at present to make a full-scale move into the retail market.

The questions here are: how long is "the longer term" and what kind of resources does it need to roll out broadband (wireless? or over the powerlines into peoples houses like in the trial in Galway) .....

In my mind this is just a bit of publicity for ESB lighting fibre in the future, hardly something to get me to cancel my phone line with €ircon.....

As a matter of interest, is the ESB after applying for some of that 3.5Ghz frequency thats up for grabs at the moment?

Ronan

My (probably over excited) post was because hopefully this means BB via the powerlines instead of the phonelines. For somebody like me, who can't pass the test no matter what, this would be fantastic news because the only thing keeping me having a landline is the internet. My reading of this is that hopefully soon a compny such as UTV or ESAT will be able to offer us BB via powerlines.

spongebob

Originally posted by BigEejit
As a matter of interest, is the ESB after applying for some of that 3.5Ghz frequency thats up for grabs at the moment?

No, no interest in applying in March and no application in September.

The ESB is not in the least interested in providing a Final Mile. The Tuam experiment will end and they will say 'we told you so' to the department.

As the article says they see themselves as a carriers carrier, 155Mbit pipes for starters.

M

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Ronan
My reading of this is that hopefully soon a compny such as UTV or ESAT will be able to offer us BB via powerlines.

I think the journo may have got this impression too. UTV may be able to use the network for backhaul, but not as an alternative last mile to Eircom.

Ba$tard

Pity they could not get the internet-over-power sorted out.

It would completely rule Eircom out of the picture.

spongebob

Personally I thought that Eoghan O Neachtain , the head PR guy for the ESB, was busy with bogslides at the moment and needed to spin out some "Good" news. There is no official Press Release where there was one for the Southern Ring.

The Independent was willing to regurgimatate the story uncritically and ENN was willing to regurgimatate the Independent ......dare I say uncritically.

The ESB should go back to fixing the landslide they caused while Gort and South Galway still has drinking water and forget about spinning (seachas nuair a bhíonns an crua ar an táirne).

M

shinzon

Ok if the southern section has already been switched on how come it hasnt been offered as an alternative to copper based BB as yet

Do you have to get in contact with ESAT et al and say you want this, or has it been switched on and thats it

Shin

jd

Originally posted by Muck

The ESB should go back to fixing the landslide they caused while Gort and South Galway still has drinking water and forget about spinning (seachas nuair a bhíonns an crua ar an táirne).

M

Sorry muck,
that hasn't yet been proven
Bog slides do happen periodically.
Granted it's very possible it was the reason, but to state it categorically is (for want of a better term) "taxi driver logic ".
interesting look here.
http://www.clarechampion.ie/01/dec/cc20011228/fe_tpc.shtml

a dry summer followed by heavy rain could be destablising.
Unfortunately not much research has been done into bog slides in Ireland, if you tried to set up a research program for if a few years ago the dept of finance would have had none of it

Serbian

Originally posted by shinzon
Ok if the southern section has already been switched on how come it hasnt been offered as an alternative to copper based BB as yet

Do you have to get in contact with ESAT et al and say you want this, or has it been switched on and thats it

Shin

I think it is not being offered as an alternative to copper based broadband because ESB haven't sorted out the last mile. As far as I know, it is being offered to ESAT and co. for backhaul.

Urban Weigl

It is not currently priced for residential access; basic service costs hundreds of thousands of euros. As such, it is only suitable for big ISP's and data centers.

dahamsta

Do they still require multi-megabit connections that would be uneconomical for mom-and-pop ISP's or have they decided to drop the requirements a little?

adam

thegills

Dahamsta,
It will be up to the WorldCom's of this world to buy an STM-1 from ESBT, terminate the STM-1 in one of the MAN POP's, break it down into smaller segments (E1, etc.) and then sell the E1's to anybody serviced by the MAN's. This will help facilitate Wireless internat access providers (so you won't need an eircom line anymore) and DSL hopefuls (The MAN's also connect into the eircom exchanges - 6 in Limerick).

Remember the main obstacle for carriers to offer services outside of Dublin was backhaul provision currently duopolised by eircom and Esat BT.

In addition Hibernia Atlantic have unlimited capacity out of Ireland and will buy STM-1's from ESBT and inturn flog to other carriers.

ESBT's fibre network is wrapped around the 110kV+ overhead electricity network which usually stops short of the main towns, 38Kv is then used to feed electricity into the towns themselves. As Muck pointed out ESBT have no interest in FTTH or BBTTH for that matter. ESBT are looking though at fibre wrapping around 38Kv which will perhaps bring fibre closer to the population centres and towns currently not serviced by the current national network.

Hope this clears things up for ye.

SkepticOne

Originally posted by shinzon
Do you have to get in contact with ESAT et al and say you want this, or has it been switched on and thats it

It is of interest to telcos and other companies looking to connect from one point in Ireland to another. They now have the extra choice of the ESB rather than, say, Eircom which also has a regional fibre network. Note the word regional. Companies will only connect to it if it brings their costs down for them. If you are stuck with Eircom's last mile, as most currently are, you won't notice any difference.

dahamsta

Thanks thegills, very helpful. I was under the impression pressure was being brought to bear on the ESB to sell access in smaller doses though. I seem to remember them saying they were considering it, is that right?

adam