Broadband to the whole Island - Pierre Danon

netwhizkid

RTÉ Radio had a report on Broadband as part of its "The Business" Programme on Radio One this morning at 10.25am.

Interviewed were:

• Pierre Danon (Chairman of Eircom)
• Mike Byrne (Chairman of ComReg)
• Alex French (Director of Operations, Bitbuzz a Wireless Hotspot company)
• Noel Kissane (Tour Guide from the Black Valley Co. Kerry)

It was a 15 minute report and all parties concerned outlined their situations. Pierre Danon of Eircom said that he hopes that Eircom will rollout Broadband to the whole Island in 12 to 18months, "with the compliment coming from the Government" what this means should be clarified.

However in my own opinion it looks as if the new "National Broadband Plan" will subvent Eircom to rollout broadband to the remainder of the exchanges not already DSL enabled. With Pierre Danon saying this and Noel Dempsey saying that "all reasonable requests for broadband will be met" under the new National Broadband Plan, this is what it looks like to me anyway.

Link to the Radio Report here the report starts at 12:20 in the clip. It is a big download so watch out those on Dialup.

pointofnoreturn

netwhizkid wrote:

However in my own opinion it looks as if the new "National Broadband Plan" will subvent Eircom to rollout broadband to the remainder of the exchanges not already DSL enabled. With Pierre Danon saying this and Noel Dempsey saying that "all reasonable requests for broadband will be met" under the new National Broadband Plan, this is what it looks like to me anyway.

Thanks Netwhizkid for the post,
Yes my biggest question is this "National Broadband Plan" , Why is their is Vested interesting in Eircom to be the players to connect who will possible be never connected, i.e in the Black Valley in Kerry!, a pair of copper wires will NOT! alone address what’s needed in 3 to 5years from now! eircom have hit the roof @ 3Mbit's on their bit stream products with no interest in addressing this either, BT are getting tired of this carry on, their to launch an 8Mbit service but posed with a 200k customers that won't benefit form product as a Next Gen Technology.
Can the Government not face the facts and just drop options to fund eircom.
They will just steal our money!

This is again a typical approach of the Government, can't they not just Tender for it!, or at least use what they have built the eNET and setup a spin-off access provider that will provide the physical or at least the hardware link, then wholesale the network access to ISP's that will look after IP transit!, their by, the Government govern where the network is to expand, who's connected and how it's gone about.

They are fools! if they give eircom any money!

1huge1

On a side not are you sure its meant to be the whole island? Somehow I can't see eircom investing in the north

smellslikeshoes

1huge1 wrote:

On a side not are you sure its meant to be the whole island? Somehow I can't see eircom investing in the north

Obviously not but since the north has had 100% penetration for a couple of years now, when the south finally catches up broadband will be brought to the whole island.

Liam Byrne

If it's eircom, then it's probably "the whole island" of Achill or something....

If there are grants going, the job should be put out to tender, and let the organisation with the best service/price balance win it.

Eircom have repeatedly shown that they not only ignore ComReg requests and are slow to do anything worthwhile, they also try to scuttle their competitors by delaying them or making it awkward.....competitors who are dying to roll out better services.

So why the hell does the Government reckon it can/should trust them to do anything crucial ?

This stinks.....

thebman

Previously they said it would go out to tender now it'll be eircom like its a foregone conclusion. What the hell?

How about the next time we are in this situation? Firstly the government will wait until its a crisis then they will fund eircom to do it again as they drag their heals. Why not fix the problem instead of putting a plaster on it and hoping it works out?

Anyway if they do this, I'll probably be able to get broadband as I'm less than half a mile from the local exchange so if they enable it, I'll get it. I'd still much rather see a long term solution that means I wait longer for broadband. There is little benefit from slow, expensive broadband from a monopoly.

JMcL

If the government don't put it out to tender and just hand it to Eircom, I foresee a long drawn out trail through the high/supreme courts ahead of us.

pointofnoreturn

Then we are IrelandOffline, We need to express strongly, and very publicly that eircom is not the solution! and that the Government should not be seeing them as an option to address the "very last mile customer".

qwertplaywert

netwhizkid wrote:

Link to the Radio Report here the report starts at 12:20 in the clip. It is a big download so watch out those on Dialup.

what tragic irony