Parlon opens rooftops to wireless telcos

dahamsta

Parlon opens rooftops to wireless telcos
Wednesday, April 07 2004
by Martin Lynch

The Irish government plans to lease space on public buildings for mobile masts in an effort to raise EUR100 million over the next 10 years.

The announcement, made by Minister of State Tom Parlon, has been in the pipeline for some time. Last August, Parlon revealed that he was looking into leasing government buildings to the mobile telecommunications sector as part of his overall aim of generating revenue from the government's under-utilised property portfolio. At the time, mobile telecoms consultancy firm Vilicom, beat off bids from 24 other firms to win a five-year contract with the Office of Public Works (OPW) to assess what revenue could be earned.

The deal will encompass all 1,000 government buildings, although schools are exempt. Parlon confirmed that the new plan is ready to go and said the OPW will soon start signing agreements with mobile operators including Vodafone, O2, Meteor and Hutchison. Wireless broadband service providers are also expected to take up the offer.

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Now how about that bloody ducting?

yellum

Now why doesn't he let non-proft community networks have some space too on those buildings ?

machalla

Theres you're answer. "Non-profit". They are only doing this because theres money to be made.

Fergus Cassidy

Greets,

I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but may I sugguest approaching the Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) on this and other related issues.

ILCU has lots of branches, many in rural areas, and some of the buildings and rooftops might be well positioned for antenna etc.

By putting antenna to facilitate community and non-profit groups on their premises, credit unions could help to bring net access to their own members.

The credit unions might also be in a position to facilitate small loans for initial equipment costs members might need when joining a network co-op. They could also provide facilities for co-op bank accounts, direct debits etc.

On a personal level, it would do no harm to consider formally approaching the ILCU to see what areas of common interest exist. I believe there are many shared philosophies.

I'd volunteer to help with such an approach.

Fergus

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http://www.ethos.org

dahamsta

Certainly scope there for sharing of networking costs, and McCreevy can only hold them back from networking with each other for so long (the bitch) so they can only want more help and bandwidth as time goes on. Excellent suggestion.

adam

Paddy20

Yes,

Certainly has a lot of potential for good. For a change, Fergus.

P. :ninja:

WezzyB

Fergus, Thats a great idea, the Credit Unions are always trying to do good in their community.

I know this from the Charleville Credit Union, when they renovated their premises and bought/commisioned art from local artists (including my sister).

They are always supporting local teams and events, I guess its all at the heart of the Credit Union movement.