[PR] Functional Internet Access

jwt

Released yesterday lunchtime to the media list.

06 October 2004
Press Release from IrelandOffline

Functional Internet Access

In an era where most of our European neighbours, including many of the former communist states, measure Internet access in millions of bits per second, we here in Ireland are still meandering around on picturesque donkeys on old internet boreens (dialup). Why is this?

We have a regulator that has deemed that not defining a minimum connection speed is a "good thing".

In the Netherlands the regulator dictated that all lines be capable of handling ISDN. In return for this level of service the line rent was agreed at one of the highest rates in Europe. In Ireland we too had a regulator that agreed one of the highest line rents in Europe, and incidentally agreed to three straight price increases in a row without a murmur. The difference being that our regulator did not set a minimum quality. In fact our regulator decided to remove the existing paltry limit and leave it blank.

As a result of this, ringing your line provider to complain about Internet access, faxes not being received or any data related query results in being told that there is no obligation on said provider beyond ensuring that voice calls are available.

Contrast this with the UK where OfCom declared that Functional Internet Access should be considered as any line capable of supporting better than 28,800 bps and in turn the main provider of lines took this on board and with a view to forestalling a regulator that has consistently shown its teeth made every effort to exceed their regulators expectations. In the UK OfCom is a force to be reckoned with.

How can our regulator honestly expect to see Ireland compete on a level playing field in Broadband penetration figures when they dare not even set a minimum speed for Functional Internet Access? Dare not because setting a standard acceptable both politically and socially would expose the dreadful condition of Ireland’s communications infrastructure. Our ministers are unable to mandate a decent Functional Internet Access rate knowing full well that to do so would highlight the mistake of selling off our national asset to a commercial entity interested in nothing more than the bottom line. An asset that has degraded over consecutive years as the funding used to maintain the network is kept well below the levels required to maintain it.

The notion that the funding used to maintain our network is broadly in line with Europe is disingenuous. European networks have been maintained properly for decades resulting in networks that are modern and efficient. In Ireland we have a network that reached it’s peak in the early 80’s and has declined ever since. It is similar to saying that a house that was never maintained since it was built and is in need of a complete renovation will suffice with the same level of maintenance as a house that was looked after from day one. Secondly it begs the question “How broad is broad?” Broadly speaking a horse that comes last in a race ran roughly as fast a the horse that won. But it certainly wasn’t in the winner’s enclosure. “Broadly in line” makes for a nice sound bite but is completely misleading.

The Government policy when Eircom was sold, failed to implement the other side of competition theory. Private suppliers of essential services need to be heavily regulated to make sure they serve the public interest. Instead, ComReg was explicitly established with instructions that "the regulatory burden on the sector be minimised" and that its operations should be "light-handed".

Until such time as our regulator either regulates a minimum Functional Internet Access or the Minister mandates it, we are always going to lag our European partners. In every other country where a decent Functional Internet Access rate was regulated the benefits have been enormous. We call on ComReg and the Minister to set this standard in place so that Ireland can move forward in the 21st century with some hope of providing its people with the infrastructure they need. A sound Functional Internet Access definition would stop the asset sweating that has occurred, A sound Functional Internet Access definition would give some hope to people struggling to connect to the Internet. A sound Functional Internet Access definition is the minimum that the people of Ireland should expect from those tasked with protecting us namely ComReg and the Department of Marine Communications and Natural Resources.

In this day and age is it really too much to ask?

Regards

IrelandOffline

John

eircomtribunal

jwt wrote:

"In the Netherlands the regulator dictated that all lines be capable of handling ISDN. In return for this level of service the line rent was agreed at one of the highest rates in Europe. In Ireland we too had a regulator that agreed one of the highest line rents in Europe, and incidentally agreed to three straight price increases in a row without a murmur. The difference being that our regulator did not set a minimum quality. In fact our regulator decided to remove the existing paltry limit and leave it blank."

John

Denmark is also or IMO even more interesting in this context, as it had like Ireland no competing cable industry. The Danish Regulator/Competition Authority not only set ISDN as standard in the USO, but at the same time reduced and progressively price-capped [*] the ISDN monthly rental and kept this cap in place.
In Denmark isdn costs a monthly 147 dk, the equivalent of € 20. (Packages with zero cost off-peak national telephone calls are available at an extra 5 euro).
I am not aware that the Netherlands have or had high ISDN pricing, I am reading the opposite in articles?

I am not nitpicking there. The emphasis on Functional Internet Access is very important - it is one of the levers the DCMNR/Comreg have at hand to enforce change and investment.

P.


[*]From the Danish Competition Authority http://www.ks.dk/english/competition/national/before04/tdc/

2003-09-24: Price-cap for TDC’s end-user services (2003 and 2004)
"The Council meeting 24. September 2003
Pursuant to the latest changes to the sector specific regulation of the Danish telecommunication markets, TDC’s fixed line minute charges are no longer subject to price regulation. Price-caps on TDC’s monthly subscription fees for PSTN and ISDN as well as call set-up charges however are to remain fixed at their current levels and are no longer subject to mandatory yearly reductions."

So while the Danish authorities, who have one of the most successful Internet and broadband developments at hand, are just at the stage where they no longer regulate for a price decrease of fixed line rental, but merely fix the level, our Comreg, which has to regulate for a country that is at the bottom of the league and has so much catch-up to do, are unwilling to halt further price increases.

A look at the amount of lines in Denmark and others. This so also an important indicator for communications development. We are far below that due to our high line rental. How many lines do we have per 100 inhabitants?

P.

seamus

Nice release guys. Nit-picking, but who proofreads for grammar?

jwt

Elana normally but she's laid up at the moment, but seeing as you are volunteering.......

John

vinnyfitz

Sorry to be negative (I'm not normally) ... but I thought this release was not up to IOFFL's normal standards to be honest.

Its not clear to a typical journalist:
Why it is being issued now?
What inspired it?
What the specific demand in it is?
Who is being called upon to do what?

In other words - where is the story? why is it news?

IOFFL needs to be really punchy, precise and demanding in its public statements. We have enough comentators and pundits. What we need from IOFFL is laser focussed demands for action which are really to the point and roast their targets.

spongebob

Meself and Eircomtribunal will redo it if you want

M

dahamsta

vinnyfitz wrote:

Sorry to be negative (I'm not normally) ... but I thought this release was not up to IOFFL's normal standards to be honest.

I thought the same thing tbh. It wasn't a press release, it was opinion/editorial. I'd be very surprised if it got any coverage, which is after all the point. Stuff like that should be posted on the site, and maybe linked to from a press release or newsletter.

As with vinnyfitz, sorry for the negativity.

adam

jwt

It was designed to several things.

1 re-raise awareness

2 Show ComReg and DMCNR that we haven't forgotten

3 Spark some media interest

4 increase overall pressure on ComReg

So far theres been an SR article

Reuters have been back on

A radio station for a news piece

ComReg have responded to the issue

We have further comments to make on their response which will be interesting

"Any connection (to the public telephone network) provided by a designated undertaking shall be capable of allowing end users to make and receive (c) data communications at data rates that are sufficient to permit functional internet access taking into account prevailing technologies used by the majority of subscribers and technological feasibility."

"The regulator acknowledged that the USO decision last year did not define a particular data rate to represent FIA "

Don't know where to start with that classic

Our media profile is maintained


It has resulted in several emails/pm's congratulating us on a well written hard hitting piece.

FIA was a major issue for most people, if fixed it would fix a lot of telecom's issues and force Eircom to maintain them



All in all I'd call that a success

John

DonegalMan

Always remember, there are many ways to skin a cat

Well done, John!

damien

Thanks for all the feedback so far. It has all been constructive and we are always in the process of learning more. Keep the feedback and suggestions coming in every thread.

Damien.