Farewell, Dermot. The Communications Minister who had a lot of good intentions.

eircomtribunal

From the press release for the new blogs of John Doherty's alter ego:

Farewell, Dermot,

We'll remember you as the Minister for Communications who had a lot of good intentions.

While Dermot naturally tries to put a positive spin on his achievements as Minister for Communications, we offer a cold look at the current situation of Broadband Development.

Read our four new blogs, factual and passionate as ever:
Blog 24 September: about the "Rotten State of Broadband Ireland" http://www.comwreck.com/blog_25_sep24.html
Blog 25 September: Dermot is not telling the truth about Irish Broadband pricing http://www.comwreck.com/blog_26_sep25.html
Blog 26 September: How Comreg is in contempt of the Minister's directive. We are used to one detrimental action following another, but this one trumps them all.
Part one: http://www.comwreck.com/blog_27_sep26.html
Part two: http://www.comwreck.com/blog_28_sep26.html

Regards

Peter Weigl
for Comwreck.com

Thanks for all the help from all the posters on boards.

P.

mike65

Ah, the road to hell etc Still Dermo has the comforting knowledge that his successor will stumble into the same epoch sized potholes!

Mike.

damien

I'm sure to draw fire here over my next comments but so be it. I think Dermot has done more to improve things in the Telco market than anyone else. He really inherited a crock from his predecessor and made some good out of it.

He saved the MAN projects from death by McCreevy, his directives brought about flat rate. Him and his Dept brought about the group Broadband initiatives and we have affordable (not cheap) DSL products.

Fair enough point out where there is still work and a lot of work in some cases to be done but don't forget to also show where the boy did good. If the next person into the post is anywhere near as agressive as Dermot it'll be a good thing. Just remember who we had before him and hope we don't get another of that ilk.

flamegrill

I'd have to agree with Damien, even with all thats left to be done. Without Dermot doing what he has, it would still be as bad as it was 3 years ago.

LoBo

There is no secret to the Danish (or Japanese) success: With no cable competition, the incumbent would not invest in dsl Broadband. The Regulator created competition; he enabled other operators to access the copper from the telephone exchange to the end-user (the so-called local loop or last mile) at a price that made it worthwhile.
When the lazy incumbent had lost over 40% of his business he had to fight back with low prices. The Danish incumbent Telco has since regained over 75% of market share – and Denmark has become the EU leader with Broadband development. Denmark now boasts 13 Broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Ireland has 2. The EU-15 average was 6 in 2003 and will be 8 by the end of this year.
In Denmark 100% of households can get Broadband, in Ireland it is less than 50%, in some Counties less then 30%. The EU-15 average availability is reaching 90%. Northern Ireland will have 100% availability by end of next year.

Speaks for itself - from http://www.comwreck.com/blog_27_sep26.html. More excellent work eircomtribunal, keep it up!

eircomtribunal

damien.m wrote:

I'm sure to draw fire here over my next comments but so be it. I think Dermot has done more to improve things in the Telco market than anyone else. He really inherited a crock from his predecessor and made some good out of it.

My main point was to stress the importance of not letting Comreg going ahead with killing off Local Loop Unbundling by setting the second highest price for it amongst the EU-15 countries.
If Local Loop Unbundling is further delayed or made impossible, we have no chance at all to catch up.

I do not intend to start a simplistic discussion about the merits of Dermot's reign and hope the "cold look" on the current broadband situation, in the "Farewell, Dermot" blogs offers food for thought.

He saved the MAN projects from death by McCreevy, his directives brought about flat rate. Him and his Dept brought about the group Broadband initiatives and we have affordable (not cheap) DSL products.

As you bring up these "merits". When looked at in an international context, these are not achievements.

The MAN's, if not integrated into a coherent plan which includes opening up the last mile of copper to competition, are not what they should and could be. Dermot has not delivered on that. The MSE is in the hands of a company, where Eircom will earn their share of profits. Dermot has consistently misled the public about the effect of the MAN's for broadband availability in the MAN's proximity.
Of course we all hope e-net will offer something soon that will bring some competition into the market, but the backhaul is not the main bottleneck.

Flatrate a success? What flatrate? Are you talking about the "prepay 25 off-peak hours of dial-up internet at 40 cent an hour; or prepay 150 hours at a price as high as broadband"? Uptake is dismal. Less than 10% of Internet users. Three times as many people that are buying those so-called flatrate packets are subscribing to hideous dial-up subscriptions (where the customer basically gets NOTHING for € 18 a month) and eight times as many are using "free" dial-up. The current FRIACO pricing structure is a disaster. Our FRIACO did nothing to boost competition or Irish home internet access figures, that are at a devastating low 37% of households.(Of course it is "welcome" by some of us, who had to grasp it like a drowning person will grasp a straw.)
The times the're a changing..

Group Broadband schemes. I am not convinced they will have a significant influence.

Affordable DSL products? To 50 percent of the population! Eircom have no plans to increase coverage above 60 %. To cover 50/60% is easy and cheap. Prices have risen above the EU-15 average.Uptake is dismal.

Just some figures to illustrate the dire state we are in and crush the false hopes that have been created in the public opinion by Nolan, Redmond and Dermot about our "huge progress with DSL" and to illustrate that the kind of policies Dermot has implemented are leading us nowhere:
We've about 1 288 000 households,
37% have home internet access, that is 476 560 domestic internet connections.
In the US about half of users go for broadband, here it will be much less (Only 58% of the domestic users really use the internet at least a few times a week). The hypothetic US uptake ratio would give us 238 000 potential domestic broadband subscribers. Now exclude the households that cannot get broadband (even an overoptimistic 70% bb availability would reduce the figure to 167 000 possible domestic bb subscribers) and you get the picture about our "success".
EU average will be at around 20% of households by end 2004.
We would need to have around 260 000 household broadband subscriptions to catch up with the EU-15 average.
Our "rapid" dsl growth will stagnate all too soon and at figures that are too low. And it pains me to think of the studies that will then be undertaken to find out the reasons.
We need the lowest LLU pricing in Europe to get competition going, a 10 euro a month real flatrate, dsl prices significantly below the EU average, a universal service obligation on the incumbent to provide ISDN or dsl standard to all. And we need a minister who is able to understand those things.

P.

bealtine

eircomtribunal wrote:

We need the lowest LLU pricing in Europe to get competition going, a 10 euro a month real flatrate, dsl prices significantly below the EU average, a universal service obligation on the incumbent to provide ISDN or dsl standard to all. And we need a minister who is able to understand those things.

P.

I agree with your analysis of the situation and that this is the only action that would make sense and possibly retrieve this pathetic situation.

Our achievements in the broadband arena are nothing short of laughable.

I believe dermo was caught between a rock and a hard place, in fairness to him. If he did something he was damned if he did nothing he was damned.

If he forced through LLU eircom would take all their toys and close up shop, a nightmare scenario for the government, however in my opinion it would be the best outcome we could ever have.

Furthermore, in common with all regulators in this country, the purpose of the regulator is NOT to regulate for the benefit of consumers, it is to regulate to make sure eircom makes stacks of money at our expense and doesn't even have to provide a basic service.
In other words the regulator PROTECTS those that are already there.
Regulators protect those that they regulate. Energy/telecoms/banking,
you name it and the regulator for that area always has the same brief:
Protect, protect and protect and screw the consumers...

Why else do you think John Doherty would say:
"We will be working up from the price we want and something that suits Eircom." or continuously protect the line failure rate data as if they were some
sort of crown jewels,then set the highest (almost) LLU pricing for some of the worst copper on the planet and not bother to implement FIA?

All the regulators only take action when forced to and then only begrudgingly.
Has any bank been fined by IFSRA...no
Has Comreg taken action against eircom...no

Of course this is diametrically opposed to what a regulator should actually be doing but that's Ireland for you.

Lots of people have been conned by this not too subtle difference.

Mr_Man

is quite simple, its to act as a buffer to protect the politico's arses. Can you imagine the flack Dermo would have taken if there had been no Comreg and he had passed the recent line rental increases.

The only thing I'm surprised at is that they haven't brought a regulator in yet for Health to buffer the Minister from the annual flack generated by the VHI increases. No doubt if Mary takes over she'll sort that one out ASAP.

M.

The Insider

eircomtribunal wrote:

Three times as many people that are buying those so-called flatrate packets are subscribing to hideous dial-up subscriptions (where the customer basically gets NOTHING for € 18 a month) and eight times as many are using "free" dial-up.

What is your source for that quote

a 10 euro a month real flatrate,

Thats never going to happen

If we get a minister who does as good as job as Dermo then we will be very lucky.

eircomtribunal

The Insider wrote:

What is your source for that quote

It is from this recent comreg doc
Quote from page 5 and 6 :
"The most popular payment plan 5 for Internet access is pay-as–you-go (54%) followed by monthly subscription (20%) and dial-up flat rate (7%). Therefore the majority of users are paying on a metered basis, i.e. based on their usage. In addition 17% of respondents with home Internet access do not know how they pay for their Internet access.[We can assume that these 17% are not on FRIACO, but paying the Eircom subscription] In the corresponding Amarach survey carried out a year ago, 48% of respondents with home Internet access demonstrated some interest in unlimited Internet access for a flat monthly fee. However, given that only 7% of respondents in the most recent survey say that they are paying on a dial-up flat-rate basis, take-up of this option is disappointing so far."

If we get a minister who does as good a job as Dermo then we will be very lucky.

Dermot just gave Eircom permission to hike up the line rental further as early as next year by leaving the Department without taking the line rental out of the measuring basket.
When you think about it, we are now further behind the rest of the Western world than we were under O'Rourke.
Dermot showed a few times too often that he did not understand the issues. He meant well. I fail to see achievements. Forfas say we are 3 years behind the average and 5 years behind the leading OECD countries with regards to Broadband.

P.

DonegalMan

eircomtribunal wrote:

Dermot showed a few times too often that he did not understand the issues. He meant well.

IMHO, Dermot and the Government have - very belatedly - realised exactly what the issues are.

The answers are not easy however, he/they are lumbered with a debt-laden company that has control over vital national infrastucture (1) but has neither the resources nor the appetite to do what really needs to be done - significant capital investment for the future rather than short term revenue generation to keep investors happy.

I think Dermot has played a reasonably clever game from his point of view - he can't take drastic action at this stage that could precipitate the collapse of Eircom, but the forcing through of FRIACO showed Eircom that they are not going to get everything their own way. Equally, the actual construction of MAN's (2) has sent the message out that if Eircom is going to continue to f**k about, the Government is prepared to start investing in alternative structure. (3)

I've made no secret of the fact that I personally have written Eircom off as a lost cause and that I expect them to collapse in a heap in the not too distant future.

The more alternatives that are created in the meantime, the better; MAN's, Group Broadband schemes, commercial wireless operations like IrishBroadband - add them all together and we can see the kernel of real alternatives developing.

[line]500[/line]
(1)I accept it was this government's predecessors that cretaed this mess but that's another debate, I'm only concerned here with the situaution "as is"

(2)I know there is nothing in place yet to allow users to connect to the MAN's but I think that will change in the months ahead.

(3) I agree that it was ridiculous that Eircom ended up with significant shreholding in the company set up to roll these out, this is something that seemed to 'slip through the cracks' but I doubt that they will be allowed to use their shareholding to impede the MAN's project.

The Insider

eircomtribunal wrote:

It is from this recent comreg doc
Quote from page 5 and 6 :
"The most popular payment plan 5 for Internet access is pay-as–you-go (54%) followed by monthly subscription (20%) and dial-up flat rate (7%).

In a piece on your blog taken from Irish Times Article, Wednesday 22 Sept 2004, Dermot says

"I am happy that I was vindicated in my push to open up flat-rate dial-up and 90,000 people have signed up for it so far"

is that incorrect??
If I remember correctly, Eircom Net had 350,000 users, with about 80,000 on subscriptions about this time last year, so if dermot is correct there would be more people on flat-rate dial-up then subscriptions based on last years figures.

When you think about it, we are now further behind the rest of the Western world than we were under O'Rourke.

It is very scary to think of were we would be if O'Rourke was still in charge...its still because of O'Rourke legacy that we are 3/4/5 years behind everyone not Dermot

eircomtribunal

The Insider wrote:

If I remember correctly, Eircom Net had 350,000 users, with about 80,000 on subscriptions about this time last year, so if dermot is correct there would be more people on flat-rate dial-up then subscriptions based on last years figures.

The figures may well have changed slightly in favour of pre-paid fixed hours, as you suggest, also I doubt it before I see figures. Keep in mind that somebody buying a package of prepaid 25 hours of off-peak dial-up surfing for 40 cent an hour is counted into the figures Dermot mentions in his "flat-rate" success fairy-tale.

My point is: FRIACO came too late, is too expensive for the customer, is making more profit for the incumbent than for the competitor offering it, is not a flat rate offering as the minister had asked to be introduced (see quote below) and has therefore not improved the all important domestic internet penetration rate (see quote below, it was 33% then, now we are at 37%). Sure it helped reduce the mad dial-up bills for some Internet users like myself, but it failed to change the attitude of the general public.It had to fail because FRIACO is offered as a prepaid hours and not as a "stay online as long as you want". People rightly feel that they get screwed with those packages: When they do not use the hours they'll pay more;how to keep track of the hours used up?; what bills will arrive when the hours are over-shot?
Ten euro for monthly flat rate usage, everything else is another toll-booth blocking more people trying out and finding out about the Internet.

P.

Ahern demands flat-rate Internet
ENN Thursday, October 24 2002

Minister Ahern said he was calling for the move because flat-rate Internet access, which allows users stay on-line for as long as they want for a fixed monthly fee, was vital in driving Ireland's information society, and crucial for economic and social development.
it is widely thought that the availability of 24/7 flat-rate access is vital to boost the country's Internet penetration rate of around 33 percent, which is low compared to many other technology-focused nations.

cgarvey

Its official, Noel Dempsey is the new minister.

.cg

seamus

cgarvey wrote:

Its official, Noel Dempsey is the new minister.

.cg

Official from where? (I've no access to a TV atm)

Moriarty

http://www.irelandlivetelevision.tv/dail.ram

Live from the dail.

Ripwave

seamus wrote:

Official from where? (I've no access to a TV atm)

http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/0929/cabinet.html

Health - Mary Harney
Finance - Brian Cowen
Foreign Affairs - Dermot Ahern
Education - Mary Hanafin
Trade, Enterprise and Employment - Michéal Martin
Communications, Marine, Natural Resources - Noel Dempsey
Social and Family Affairs - Séamus Brennan
Transport - Martin Cullen
Agriculture and Food - Mary Coughlan
Defence - Willie O'Dea
Environment - Dick Roche

The report doesn't mentioned Arts, Sport and Tourism (currently John O'Donoghue).