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[Article] Telecom firms in schools offer

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  • 08-12-2003 12:34am
    #1
    sceptre
    Registered Users Posts: 19,608 ✭✭✭✭


    From Saturday's Times
    A group of the State's biggest telecom firms have offered the Government equipment and telecom services worth some €15 million over three years to provide broadband to Irish schools.

    The offer was made to the Government by IBEC's Telecoms and Internet Federation in the past week. It follows an earlier lower offer by the industry which the Government rejected.

    Companies that are proposing to supply Irish schools with the technical equipment and services for broadband include Eircom, O2 and Vodafone. Other smaller telecom companies may also contribute to the broadband fund which is capable of carrying data at high speeds.

    The firms have made the proposal in reaction to a threat by the Minister for Communications, Mr Dermot Ahern, to levy a tax on the industry to raise cash to supply broadband to schools.

    [...]

    The Government believes that industry should contribute to the cost of providing broadband to schools because it should spur consumer demand for the technology and boost their profits.

    Last night the Department of Communications confirmed that it had received an offer from the business lobby group. A spokesman said the Government was considering the new offer.

    [...]
    As usual, the one thing we can be sure of is that whatever offer the companies are making will be cheaper for them than any tax Dermot Ahern will impose. Whether that translates again into schools getting equipment and connections that they can't afford to actually use is something we'll find out eventually. The current three-year ICT strategy (which, let's face it, has been a total mess) runs out on December 31. I suspect that we won't have a new one in place the following day. Even this proposal from the telcos sounds a little vague, with phrases like "smaller telecom companies may also contribute". The obvious implication there is that this is something of a delaying measure rather than a concrete plan with concrete funding. The TIF aren't known for being totally clear at the best of times in any case.


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