Editorial in the Irish Times

damien

Irish Times Editorial Today - 16th September

Broadband access

Four years after the public was first promised access to the latest broadband technology there are signs that the service is finally becoming more readily available. Eircom, Esat BT, NTL and a small number of wireless and satellite telecoms operators are now offering the high speed Internet service in most cities and large towns throughout the State. Almost 80,000 businesses and consumers have so far signed up for broadband, which offers "always on" access to the Internet at speeds 10 times faster than dial up services.

Wider availability, sharp reductions in price and aggressive marketing campaigns have clearly spurred demand for the service, which is a critical tool for home working and small businesses. However, persistent consumer complaints about the lack of availability of broadband in small towns and some urban centres illustrate a broadband bottleneck still exists.

Recent figures published by Eircom, the dominant operator which owns all the wires running into homes, show broadband is potentially available at 841,000 of their 2 million line connections. Poor quality lines in some areas and a technical barrier whch prevents Eircom's current broadband technology from stretching farther than four kilometres from a telephone exchange are key factors frustrating tens of thousands of consumers across the country. Often, there is no reliable indication when a service might be provided.Eircom is spending €85 million on a three-year strategy to maintain and upgrade its network and has defended its capital expenditure policy. Its high debt level remains a constraint on the amount it can invest. Progress is being made, but we are coming from behind after a period of under-investment.

Part of the blame must rest with the Government, which failed to deal with the broadband issue when it privatised Eircom and set up a regulatory structure. This has hampered the Government's policy to establish Ireland as a European "e-hub". In an effort to address this, the State is now investing in broadband provision as part of a campaign to boost availability and encourage competition. Eircom's recent bullish comments about its own strategy also mask a lack of competition for ADSL services, the most common type of broadband. There are still key regulatory issues to be addressed in relation to access to parts of Eircom's infrastructure. Eircom's roll out of broadband should be welcomed, as should the Government's funding of this area. However Ireland is unlikely to become a real "e-hub" unless there is a higher level of investment, competition is encouraged and regulation is better supported by the State.

Praise Eircom and blame the Government ? Yeah right.

You can comment on this by emailing lettersed@irish-times.ie

If you do email and you are encouraged to do so, post a copy here too.

Gizzard

is this the same government who sold off that piece of **** eircom for a fortune to the public, the we got hosed, praise me ars-e

DonegalMan

A chara

Today's Opinion piece on Broadband issues rightly underlines the importance
of this technology to our economy. The points raised, however, do not
adequately address the underlying issues.

Using Eircom's own figures (841,000 lines), Broadband is "potentially
available" to 42% of the population. Eircom have admitted, however, that
line failure rate is between 20% and 30% (David McRedmond on Morning Ireland
yesterday) which reduces the actual availability to about 30%. This is
hardly an impressive figure three years after they first rolled out
Broadband. It is particularly galling when we look at our neighbours in
Northern Ireland where over 60% of the population already had access to
Broadband by the end of last year and DETI have set a target of 100%
availability by the end of next year.

Eircom's €85 million spend on a three-year strategy is paltry when we
consider that over five times that amount was taken out in dividend last
year alone. It also pales into insignificance when you compare it to BT
across the water. Their three year budgeted spend on upgrading their network
is £6 billion - pro-rata in Irish terms, this equates to about €654 million. This
is from a company who are already well up the European Broadband league, not
sitting close to the bottom like Eircom and having to play 'catch up'.

You are right that the government has a role to play. Any government
intervention, however, must take account of the fundamental fact that a
vital part of our national infrastructure, one that has a key role to play
in our economic future, is now under the control of a debt-laden company who
are either unwilling or unable to invest sufficient capital to even maintain
the network at its current unacceptable state, let alone start to improve
it.

is mise,

damien

*bump*

Folks,
I can't stress enough the importance of this editorial. The broadband nightmare has been well covered already by the tech journalists and we give them thanks for that. Morning Ireland and now the times are talking about this. This debate is moving into the mainstream. The editorial could further push this issue and highlight the issues even more.

So I'm strongly urging everyone to email the times and give their views on this.

Damien.