ComReg March 2006 Quarterly Survey - Worst again

damien

ComReg survey shows continuing regulatory failures
Highest mobile prices in EU
Highest line rental in EU
2nd highest domestic phone bills in EU
Broadband uptake significantly lower than EU average
LLU complete failure

bealtine

damien.m wrote:

ComReg survey shows continuing regulatory failures
Highest mobile prices in EU
Highest line rental in EU
2nd highest domestic phone bills in EU
Broadband uptake significantly lower than EU average
LLU complete failure

There's no demand for this stuff you know...

viking

Link:

http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0615.pdf

damien

http://lists.ie/pipermail/media/2006/000053.html

*Highest mobile prices in EU*
*Highest line rental in EU*
*2nd highest domestic phone bills in EU*
*Broadband uptake significantly lower than EU average*
*LLU complete failure *
*ISDN usage increasing again*
*IrelandOffline question the selective use of statistics by ComReg*


IrelandOffline called into question the ability of the telcoms
regulator today when another ComReg survey [1] revealed the extent of
high telecoms prices in Ireland.

Chairman of IrelandOffline Damien Mulley stated "This survey gives a
complete summary of the regulatory failures in the Irish Telecoms
market. We are one of the worst performing countries in the EU and
OECD for broadband uptake but what the general Irish consumer is not
being told is that we are paying more than most European citizens for
basic telecoms services such as mobile and phoneline services."

John Timmons, Vice-chair of IrelandOffline stated "We question once
again why our telecoms regulator is not informing Irish consumers that
they pay the highest line rental in the EU and most of the developed
world, why they do not use OECD approved price calculators which shows
we pay the 2nd highest domestic bills in the EU and why they release
reports glossing over the fundamental problems. This survey shows how
much consumers and businesses are being overcharged and under serviced
for every type of
telecoms service and yet ComReg fails to comment on it and more
importantly failed to act on it."


Some of the statistics IrelandOffline point out are:


** Highest mobile prices in EU **

Irish people on average pay €47.20 a month for mobile phone usage
however he average Swedish consumer pays €21.86, Northern Irish
consumers (part of UK in chart) pay €32.27 which is €15 a month less
than Irish people. On page 31 of the ComReg report [1], it shows that
Irish prices are significantly more expensive than most other EU
countries. Strangely Switzerland a non-EU country is included in the
chart and this increases the average mobile cost in the graph. Without
Switzerland in the chart, Ireland looks even worse. Why was a non-EU
country put into this chart when all it does is skew results?

** Highest line rental in EU **
ComReg's current survey does not display the line rental charge in the
landline bill, which is the largest portion of the bill.

The data for line rental is however available in an EU report here: [2]
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/policy/ecomm/doc/implementation_enforcement/annualreports/11threport/sec_2006_193_vol2bis.pdf
On page Pg 76 of this report it shows: Highest line rental in EU and
above Japan and USA. This is line rental from the EU and world
incumbents. Line rental is a static cost on landline bills and most
also be paid if you wish to get broadband on your phoneline. A
previous ComReg report did include line rental:
http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0543.pdf see page
15 but it was dropped in later reports.


** 2nd highest domestic phone bills in EU **

Pg 78 of the EU report: Composite basket for domestic phoneline bills.
45 euros a month for the composite phone bill. 2nd highest in EU.
Finland is more expensive. The composite basket is standard model for
a standardised phone bill composed of line rental, mobile calls,
national calls, International calls and local calls.


** Broadband uptake significantly lower than EU average **

Pg 22 of the ComReg report shows we are falling behind the main EU
countries and we are on a par with most of the former Soviet block
countries who have just joined the EU.


** LLU (Unbundling) is a monumental failure in Ireland **

LLU rate in Ireland is 2% according to page 19 of the ComReg report.
EU average is 16%. ComReg states "Ireland's proportion of locally
unbundled lines as a percentage of DSL lines, currently at 2%, remains
relatively low compared to other EU countries where the average number
of LLU lines as a percentage of total DSL in September 2005 was 16% "

LLU or unbundling allows the likes of Smart, Magnet and BT Ireland to
offer high speed broadband and TV down a phoneline and allows them to
offer basic broadband at a much reduced price. LLU has been the main
driver of broadband competition in the EU.

* ISDN usage increases *

Page 17 of the ComReg report shows yet again that ISDN usage has
increased. ISDN usage should be decreasing as people move to broadband
not increasing. ISDN is a 30 year old technology but for many in
Ireland it is the only product that can get them a stable slightly
faster than dialup speed on their line and they need it for their
business.


*NOTES
[1] http://www.comreg.ie/_fileupload/publications/ComReg0615.pdf
[2] Alt url for EU report: http://tinyurl.com/pavpp

eircomtribunal

Great to see IOFFL not accepting ComReg's bull****ting the public!

Painful to see Ciaran Buckley's take on the ComReg misinformation propaganda on ENN:

Fixed wireless boosts Irish broadband market
Wednesday, March 29 2006
by Ciaran Buckley

The number of broadband connections has grown 103 percent over the past year, with the greatest spurt coming from wireless, fiber optic and satellite providers.

That was one of the key findings in ComReg's latest Quarterly Key Data Report, which summarises key telecom statistics for the Irish market to the end of 2005. The number of DSL broadband lines provided directly by Eircom and its resellers increased 75 percent year-on-year to 202,300.


Meanwhile, the adoption of cable broadband grew an impressive 179 percent to 25,000 and fixed-wireless subscriptions grew 363 percent to 40,000. The numbers of subscribers using other broadband technologies -- such as satellite, fiber optic and unbundled DSL -- has grown 1,375 percent to 3,400.


Despite the rapid growth in broadband subscribers, Ireland still lags in terms of broadband adoption, with a per-capita penetration of only 5.34 percent. This compares to an average of 13 percent among the EU-15, 14.9 percent in the UK and 23.8 percent in the Netherlands.
...

We have no rapid growth in broadband subscribers! This misleading notion is the result of ComReg's percentage-growth-propaganda-bull****-strategy. Recently published EC figures show that Irish broadband subscriber growth was nearly merely half (0.5 new broadband subscribers per 100 population) of the EU average broadband subscriber growth (0.9 new broadband subscribers per 100 population) in the year 2005.

It also found that the number of lines provided by fixed-line operators other than Eircom increased by 19 percent to 200,000 over the course of 2005.

Single billing is all what is meant here. While it is of some help to competing telcos to win and keep more customers it should never be said that these lines are provided by others. eircom still provides the lines, earns the lion's share of the line rental, and makes sure LLU will not succeed in a meaningful way on those or any other lines.

P.

Sponge Bob

eircomtribunal wrote:

It also found that the number of lines provided by fixed-line operators other than Eircom increased by 19 percent to 200,000 over the course of 2005.

Single billing is all what is meant here.

Precisely.

a) The number of lines is static ~ more or less ~ .
b) the % of the static number of lines billed to you by eircom has dropped
c) the % of the static number of lines billed to you by other carriers through single billing/wholesale line rental has increased
d) The % of lines these PROVIDED by an operator other than eircom is 0%
e) The % of lines these PROVIDED by eircom is 100% same as always because eircom have a monopoly on OWNERSHIP and PROVISIONING .
f) I cannot ring a carrier other than eircom to order a line installation in Ireland ...ie provide a line.

.....and as we know to our chagrin from Comreg stats over the years it is 100% true that 19% of **** All is still **** All

watty

I thought as a proportion of households (which is increasing) the lines are dropping. (Which is a slight increase).

eircomtribunal

Report criticises EU telecoms regulation
Article on ENN about a report for ECTA, highlighted by ALTO, says:

Europe is missing out on up to EUR14 billion of telecoms investment annually due to ineffective regulatory environments in member states, according to a new report.

"European Telecom's Lost Investment: An analysis of the ECTA Regulatory Scorecard" compiled by the Strategy and Policy Consultants (SPC) Network calculates that Ireland's telecoms sector is missing EUR512 million of investment.


The European Competitive Telecommunications Association (ECTA) scorecard is an industry standard for comparing telecommunication industry data between countries.


Tom Hickey, chairman of the Irish communications operator umbrella group ALTO, told ElectricNews.Net that the report means investment in the Irish communications sector could be boosted by about 20 percent if the regulator, ComReg, promoted more competition.


"The report demonstrates investment is greater where there is a robust regulatory code to protect competition," Hickey said. "ComReg has been unable to enforce pro-competition rules in Ireland and the Minister should move quickly to give ComReg additional powers."....

I am more doubtful than Hickey that those new powers proposed in the miscellaneous act could change the situation. They may correct some of the worst failings of the existing Communications act, but will not magically bring about the sea-change we would dearly need to get us a competent, potent and effective regulator (rather than one that keeps waving various placards saying "We are doing just fine") to bring us back into the fast lane from stuttering along on the hard shoulder of the communications motorway.

P.

1huge1

ISDN is grand though no broadband it easily beats dial up
ive had it for almost 5 years now but of course i would get broadband if I could
i live in a big town (hospital) that for some reason has been left out by eircom strange or what
little towns around us can get broadband

uncle_sam_ie

1huge1 wrote:

ISDN is grand though no broadband it easily beats dial up
ive had it for almost 5 years now but of course i would get broadband if I could
i live in a big town (hospital) that for some reason has been left out by eircom strange or what
little towns around us can get broadband

Eircon think ISDN is grand too because they can charge us a lot more for it without spending money on any BB infrastructure. Good Times!:mad:

eircomtribunal

eircomtribunal wrote:

We have no rapid growth in broadband subscribers! This misleading notion is the result of ComReg's percentage-growth-propaganda-bull****-strategy. Recently published EC figures show that Irish broadband subscriber growth was nearly merely half (0.5 new broadband subscribers per 100 population) of the EU average broadband subscriber growth (0.9 new broadband subscribers per 100 population) in the year 2005.
P.

Those figures of mine need some correction:
It is about DSL growth in 2005. How did Ireland fare?
The EU had a growth of some 53% throughout the year. Irish DSL growth was at 76%.

Are we not finally catching up then, as ComReg, the Minister and the media are telling us?

No, we are doing nothing like that. ComReg leads a self-serving misinformation campaign and everybody (but IOFFL) falls for it; the Minister because he likes to fall for it; the media, because they nearly always fall for ComReg's bullshît (word used in the terms of philosopher Harry Frankfurt: "Never tell a direct lie, when you can bullshît your way through").


Here's how the 2005 figures work out:

EU DSL growth: 16,720,906 new connections (up to 48,258,383).
With a EU population of 456 million: a growth of 3.66 new DSL connections per 100 inhabitants

Irish DSL growth: 87,966 new connections (up to 204,364).
With our 4.1 million population: a growth of 2.14 new DSL connections per 100 inhabitants. Way below the EU average growth.

Sad fact is: We are still falling further behind the EU with our DSL uptake. Merely the speed of our falling behind has reduced – that's as positive as can be said.

Merely to grow our DSL numbers equivalent to the EU average growth, that is to merely stay in the same ****e position we are currently in, we would have needed 150,060 new DSL connections in 2005.

To get upwards in the ranks, we need to grow more than the EU average. To get upwards in the ranks quickly, we need to grow substantially more than then EU average.

P.

BendiBus

"Lies, damned lies and statistics." One set is as truthful as the other. Both are equally unhelpful.

eircomtribunal

BendiBus wrote:

"Lies, damned lies and statistics." One set is as truthful as the other. Both are equally unhelpful.

I couldn't disagree more.
Figures/statistics are indispensable to give us a correct picture of reality, to assess and to plan ahead.
What ComReg does with stats is disgraceful. And they do it since ODTR days. The unsuspecting reader of the Quarterly reports must think that the regulator strides from one success story to the next one.

ComReg is (amongst other things) under ministerial direction to bring Ireland to at least the EU-15 average with regards to broadband end-user uptake. Having missed the deadline of mid 2005, they now boast at every occasion (just listen to John Doherty talking on The Last Word recently) that we are currently on the way to success, they talk about the situation having changed dramatically, with massive bb uptake happening in 2005 etc.
The stats they use, in the form of Irish percentage growth are misleading in that context. ComReg do not manipulate those stats, they use them in a manipulative way.
Our percentage 2005 DSL growth, for example, at 76%, is greater than the average EU 2005 DSL growth at 53%. ComReg are not making these figures up. But these figures have no meaning for assessing our position in comparison with the EU. As I have shown in my last post, Ireland's per capita DSL growth in comparison to the EU's average per capita DSL growth is dismal. The distance, with regards to DSL lines, between Ireland and the EU average is growing.

P.

watty

You can actually get a book "How to lie with Statistics".

It's worth understanding Statisitics and how they can be misrepresented as then you can unwind the spin and see the reality. The Lies are not the statistics but how they are presented.

Sooner or later the Government and EU will not be able to pretend any longer that they can't see what is going on. In reality I don't believe anyone that matters is "fooled" by these presentations, it just suits people in power to do nothing much at present.

paulm17781

While I agree how comreg are bending figures...

I would imagine (or hope) they are using number of lines over number households. Since Irish families are generally bigger than Europeann, we probably increased higher than Europe. I'm just guessing though.

Besides, anyone can make up statistics, 14% of people know that.

eircomtribunal

As the most dangerous competitor often is the one sneaking up from behind, a look at Greece:
No danger there, it seems. According to this note on Dave Burstein's DSL newsletter confirms that the Greek incumbent was allowed to do the very same as regulator and DCMNR have allowed Eircom to do:

Greece, finally
100,000 ZTE lines ordered, but monopoly still strong
Greece’s OTE was dead last in June’s OECD report on broadband use, behind Mexico and Turkey, with less than a fifth the penetration of Hungary. The government has been protecting 38% owned OTE from competition by prohibiting unbundling; OTE has been protecting per minute dial-up revenues by over-pricing and under-provisioning DSL. The EU has been pressuring Greece to fix the problem, but the government is pre-occupied with the billion-euro task of paying off 5,000 employees to “retire,” one third of the company.

P.

Judge

Hold on a minute.

According to this report there are 2,000,000 telephone lines.

Also according to this report there are 202,300 DSL lines.

Therefore 202,300/2,000,000 * 100 = 10.11%

So why are we showing up as only 5% broadband penetration when there’s at least 10% connected to BB via DSL before we even count the cable, FWA etc people?

lucernarian

Our population is around 4 million.

Judge

To_be_confirmed wrote:

Our population is around 4 million.

But we don't each need a broadband line. I'm sharing my Inet connection with the missus and the two kids. So that's one line and four people. Working out penetration levels based on population not number of households (which is around 1.5 million) is ridiculous. By that standard fixed line penetration must only be 65-70%

zuma

Judge wrote:

Hold on a minute.

According to this report there are 2,000,000 telephone lines.

Also according to this report there are 202,300 DSL lines.

Therefore 202,300/2,000,000 * 100 = 10.11%

So why are we showing up as only 5% broadband penetration when there’s at least 10% connected to BB via DSL before we even count the cable, FWA etc people?

Its ALWAYS done through population availibility.

By your reckoning a country with 1million telephone lines and 500,000 DSL connections has 50% broadband DSL availibility.
What if that same country has a population of 40million and only a fraction of the population have the money for a telephone line...ie a country in Africa?

Judge

zuma wrote:

Its ALWAYS done through population availibility.

By your reckoning a country with 1million telephone lines and 500,000 DSL connections has 50% broadband DSL availibility.
What if that same country has a population of 40million and only a fraction of the population have the money for a telephone line...ie a country in Africa?

This isn't Africa. As I said above, multiple persons share lines. There are 2 million phone lines and 4 million of us. Does this mean that fixed line penetration is only 50%?

eircomtribunal

To_be_confirmed wrote:

Our population is around 4 million.

Broadband penetration, in this case dsl penetration, is generally measured as the number of "subscriptions per 100 population".

The measurement "percent of dsl lines out of all telephone lines" is also sometimes used. Nothing wrong with that, provided the figure is then compared to the equivalent figures of other countries.

Both Eircom's McRedmond and ComReg's John Doherty love to throw in measurements other than the "subscription per 100 population" for Ireland. McRedmond used the dsl lines per all lines figure, ComReg has recently tried to confuse us with Irish household broadband percentage figures. Both figures are numerically way higher than the commonly used "subscriptions per 100 population", and would lead the unsuspecting reader to wrong assumptions.

P.

Judge

eircomtribunal wrote:

Broadband penetration, in this case dsl penetration, is generally measured as the number of "subscriptions per 100 population".

The measurement "percent of dsl lines out of all telephone lines" is also sometimes used. Nothing wrong with that, provided the figure is then compared to the equivalent figures of other countries.

Both Eircom's McRedmond and ComReg's John Doherty love to throw in measurements other than the "subscription per 100 population" for Ireland. McRedmond used the dsl lines per all lines figure, ComReg has recently tried to confuse us with Irish household broadband percentage figures. Both figures are numerically way higher than the commonly used "subscriptions per 100 population", and would lead the unsuspecting reader to wrong assumptions.

P.

Surely percentages based on subscriptions per household is more meaningful since it actually represents the percentage of people that can access broadband from home? Average household size can vary from country to country - in Ireland it's about 2.9 persons per household but some countries it can be as low as 2.0 persons per household, a difference of almost 30%. Why does every country persist in using subs as percentage of population? It's mathematically illogical.

paulm17781

Judge wrote:

Surely percentages based on subscriptions per household is more meaningful since it actually represents the percentage of people that can access broadband from home? Average household size can vary from country to country - in Ireland it's about 2.9 persons per household but some countries it can be as low as 2.0 persons per household, a difference of almost 30%. Why does every country persist in using subs as percentage of population? It's mathematically illogical.

I'd have to agree. That was the point I badly tried to make above.

eircomtribunal

Judge wrote:

Surely percentages based on subscriptions per household is more meaningful since it actually represents the percentage of people that can access broadband from home? Average household size can vary from country to country - in Ireland it's about 2.9 persons per household but some countries it can be as low as 2.0 persons per household, a difference of almost 30%. Why does every country persist in using subs as percentage of population? It's mathematically illogical.

The commonly used measurement of broadband penetration is in terms of "subscriptions per 100 population". It is not a percentage figure, albeit it is sometimes, noticeable also by EU institutions, incorrectly given the % sign.

It is the most commonly used term, because it can easily and exactly be measured at short intervals of time. For this reason it is the commonly used term, especially for comparisons between countries.

P.

tunes81

Its no wonder its so bad, a friend of mine lives just outside Dublin, both houses each side of him can get Eircom broadband but he cant! He had to call BT to get them to survey the line to find the problem

eircomtribunal

paulm17781 wrote:

I'd have to agree. That was the point I badly tried to make above.

Broadband household penetration figures, usually more out of date and not as accurate, are also available for comparison. Have a look for example here at page three of this 4 page pdf.
Whatever stats you look, in comparison with likewise stats from other countries, Ireland's position will be the same.
P.

eircomtribunal

Eurostat has published new figures for Internet/Broadband usage for households and enterprises.

Strangely Irish figures were not available (with the exception of company broadband connection).

Eurostat figures are IMO often poor and uneven. In the past they had some of the most horrendously incorrect figures for Irish Internet usage, i.e, we were top of the range on their charts. (probably supplied by Irish "sources", though)

On ENN Charly Taylor reports on the new Eurostat figures, mentioning the low figure for Irish company broadband connectivity.

Overall, 98 percent of Finnish firms have internet access, followed by Denmark (97 percent) and Sweden and Slovenia (96 percent). According to the figures, 92 percent of Irish firms had internet access, above the EU average of 91 percent.


The statistics reveal that while the majority of firms in the Nordic region now have broadband, just 48 percent of Irish companies do, placing the country near the bottom of the list alongside Greece (44 percent) and new accession states such as Cyprus (40 percent) and Poland (43 percent).

While there are no Internet household penetration figures for Ireland in the Eurostat charts, it seems that with household Internet penetration (according to the CSO it is now at some 45%, if I remember correctly) Ireland has now nearly arrived at the European average of 48%. But keep in mind: This is mainly due to the enlargement of the EU. With regards to the EU-15, we seem to be no longer just above Greece(22%), but also above Portugal (31%), Spain(36%) and Italy(39%).
P.