Hopes for cheaper broadband in '04

molinaalexis

TECHNOLOGY-hungry consumers around the country may be able to access cheaper fast internet through broadband services next year, following a deal between the Government, the ESB and Esat BT, which has led to a drop in wholesale rates.

It is expected that there may also be increased competition in the market over the coming months as a result of a number of recent broadband developments, including a new €104m investment programme by the Government and a speeded-up strategy by Eircom.

At the moment, consumers pay about €50 a month for retail broadband services, but it widely accepted that this should come down to the €30 level in the next six to twelve months.

The latest regional high-speed broadband connectivity framework deals offer wholesale services up to eight times cheaper than those currently available, and will bring regional broadband connectivity pricing in line with the rates charged in Dublin.

Broadband, or DSL technology, provides sufficient bandwidth to carry multiple voice, video or data channels simultaneously.

It provides internet connectivity at least 10 times faster than traditional dial-up connections.

The connectivity is being enabled because the ESB has wrapped fibre optics around high-tension cable in two loops around the country.

Under the offering, high-speed broadband packages, including 155Mbps charged at €100,000 per annum and 622Mbps at €400,000, will be available to towns on the ESB fibre-optic network.

In addition, 2.5Gbps wavelength products will connect 26 towns to Dublin on the Esat BT network.

Announcing the developments, Minister for Communications Dermot Ahern said the raft of broadband developments in the last month by the Government, ESB and operators like Eircom and Esat BT should all complement each other and increase competition.

"I am confident that we will reach our target to be in the top 10pc of OECD countries in terms of broadband retail prices by 2007," he said.

He added that bringing broadband to the regions at competitive rates is crucial to this ambition.

Towns that will benefit from the new strategies include Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim; Ennis, Co Clare; Athlone, Co Westmeath and Bray, Co Wicklow.

Ailish O'Hora
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=184&si=1095280&issue_id=10182

iwb

Quote;
Broadband, or DSL technology, provides sufficient bandwidth to carry multiple voice, video or data channels simultaneously.

So, broadband = DSL?
Also, while DSL technology can do the above, implementations of it in Ireland so far most certainly can't!

Quote;
"I am confident that we will reach our target to be in the top 10pc of OECD countries in terms of broadband retail prices by 2007," he said.

Fair enough Dermot. Show us your roadmap. I want to see how we will not only accelerate our deployment but further, we will leapfrog most of the rest of Europe some of whom are light years ahead of Ireland as it is.
Realisitically speaking, based on the current announcements, it is fairly safe to assume that we will have Eircom and reseller DSL available to a reasonably large percentage of the population by the end of 2005. That service will probably be still a maximum of 1024/256 with 20:1 contention ratio at over 100 Euro.
The other part of the deal means that 'inexpensive' backhaul will be available in 34Mb increments to a reasonable number of locations throught the country. If IBB and Leap continue at a pace, they and others will hopefully also be in a number of towns throught the country by the end of 2005 but again, probably offering relatively low speeds (although likely symmetrical).
Where will the more progressive countries in Europe be by then?
This is about;
1. The number of broadband subscribers
2. The level of service, including raw throughput, quality of service and class of service.
3. The cost of the service.
SHOW US YOUR ROADMAP!!!!

dahamsta

Out for the lads Dermie!

Ripwave

Originally posted by molinaalexis
"I am confident that we will reach our target to be in the top 10pc of OECD countries in terms of broadband retail prices by 2007," he said.

I would have thought we were already in the top 10% in terms of broadband retail prices.

When it comes to prices, we want to be in the bottom 10%!!!!!

wexfordman

Perhaps Ripwave its not comercially viable for us to be in the bottom 10%:D

Wexfordman

spongebob

Then we were in the bottom 10% of every OECD listing you could think of , excepting mass emigration and lack of economic opportunity.

BUT we were ALL much happier back then.

M

godfrey

lads, all this chat of prices gets me so fn annoyed. granted the price is rediculous, but thats if you can even get the fn thing, for gods sake. unless your name begins with a 'z', and you were born within 3inches of a toadstool on the third blue moon happening on a leap year, and youre shagging a biddy.........

im madder than a big mad thing......

only for the nice folks at the mid-west wan, id be 'postal' by now

g

muffen

lads, all this chat of prices gets me so fn annoyed. granted the price is rediculous, but thats if you can even get the fn thing, for gods sake. unless your name begins with a 'z', and you were born within 3inches of a toadstool on the third blue moon happening on a leap year, and youre shagging a biddy.........

I'm sure that post had a point, I just cannot see what that would be.
The only thing I got from that entire post is that you're annoyed.

godfrey

Originally posted by muffen
I'm sure that post had a point, I just cannot see what that would be.
The only thing I got from that entire post is that you're annoyed.

the not-so well-hidden point is that whatever about pricing issues, surely availability is even more fundamental

the continuous whining by eircon and others about slow take-up of BB products is mainly due to lack of availability, but they never mention that. theres still too much money to be made on dial-up, isnt there...

btw, eircon called this morning with promises of cheaper calls etc, and new info on broadband. you can imagine my response!

g

clearz

"I am confident that we will reach our target to be in the top 10pc of OECD countries in terms of broadband retail prices by 2007,"

Yea just as confident as the promise on broadband internet access of 5Mbps connections to the home by 2005.

We all know about this governments confidence.

Fallschirmjager

you know the thing that depresses me most about this now is the 'next year syndrome'.

for , it must be about 7 years now we have been told 'next year..it will be..' or the speed next year will be... or availability next year will be...and i get sucker punched everytime...

we are always going on about next year or next month or tomorrow. we will be in the top 10 % by 2007 blah blah blah. to be honest, i actually like ahern, at least he gets off his ass....but i wish people would stop doing the tomorrow thing....what was the last statistic for bb ownership ...i recall 9,000 by eircom from a post here...nearly 2004 and we have 9,000....holy baby jesus and the donkey.....


how about fecking 2nd place now or even fecking 10th would be a fecking start...

anyone here , other them me that would be happy with say, 15 spot, after fecking Namibia or Brataslvia or the arse end of everywhere else...15 th anyone....

BUT please spare me the 1st place jingoism....apologies if its a wee bit depressing

anyway...hope everyone has a happy christmas....

to everyone - and the mods, thanks for suffering us all for yet another year...YES HUM THAT SONG BABY

whats another year...the unofficial song of irelandoffline...LETS VOTE!!!

sceptre

It depresses me a little but I agree with all of Fallschirmjager's post. I like what Ahern has done so far (than again, I'm comparing him to O'Rourke) and I'm not going to knock the guy merely for the sheer enjoyment I get out of poking politicians with hot knitting needles. He does occasionally seem to be suffering from the odd breakout of seamusbrennanitis though, a nasty affliction which causes the sufferer to make promises and press releases about it being better next year & well into the future, then regarding the job done as the press release has gone out. I wouldn't like to see this continue unabated and I'm sure there are creams you can get for that kind of thing.

I'd settle for second place. Hell I'd settle for what Latvia is getting. I'm not saying that we should aim for anything less than the best and being the best but for crying out loud Dermot, if you want to be taken seriously by the clued, don't make promises about things that might not happen. If of course you're aiming to impress the clueless than you're going the right way till they wake up. it might happen. You've done an adequate job so far, infinitely better than the waste of space you replaced. Let's just keep going with that, eh?

And a happy and fulfilling christmas to all.