[Sunday Business Post] Investment bank IBI proposes Eircom nationalisation.

trekkypj

SkepticOne wrote: »

Personally I'm against nationalisation of Eircom in any form. Even without the 4bn debt it would still be used as a cash cow by the government and there would be a tendency to legislate against competition in order to preserve cash flow from the company. A lot of the problems stem from its period in national ownership and the problems that go with that.

I have said previously that we should nationalise eircom. I still think that the networks part of it, the backhaul and fibre as well as the exchanges and physical ducting, would be benefitial for developing NGN if Eircom was nationalised.

But if Eircom as a whole was nationalised, the state would spend €4-5bn on servicing its debt and assuming ownership. That would only leave whatever profit the company makes to repay the cost of nationalisation and to invest in the network. Somehow I don't think that would give us NGN for all very quickly.

The second option, an independent Government NGN network program seems unlikely given the cost to build it from scratch. The only possibility for it to happen is if the Government receives EU Structural funding for building an NGN to connect all homes. There has been some talk.... but I wonder if we'd get funding now?

Blaster99

croo wrote: »

There seems to be a big push to get everyone used to the idea of nationalising Eircom... just about every newspaper now has had articles saying how eircom are pivotal, strategic or as here "Eircom is considered crucial to government plans".

Of course IBI saying it means nothing they are just after a little work ... I'm sure their is a sweet fee for handling any such action.

But the Irish government making statements to the Australian stock exchange is surprising. I mean when it came to Aer Lingus here, a company in which they have a substantial investment... they cannot say anything because it's a commercial issue. They have no investment in eircom and still feel they can comment in a foreign stock exchange? Not sure who is pushing this agenda.

The eircom unions obviously. They would absolutely love nationalisation which is why practically everything that has been said in this thread will lead to a disastrous situation. Then there's the small bit of inconvenience that the country has no money to build any infrastructure of any sort.

PogMoThoin

Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan has ruled out State ownership of telecoms provider Eircom.

Speaking at the Telecommunications and Internet Federation's annual charity ball last night, the Minister said that while the Government attached significant importance to Eircom, State ownership of the company was not on his agenda.

Mr Ryan criticised what he called Eircom's short-term ownership model and said he would welcome and facilitate investors with the capacity to invest in a long-term business model for Eircom.

From here

casey jones

bk wrote: »

All your other points are pretty irrelevant. If some one sees value in just the Dublin net and offers enough, let them at it, the government need only pick up the rest of the network then. Realistically in the current economic reality, few companies have the money to buy anything and would be unlikely to outbid the Irish government if they wanted it.

I get the feeling that you are an Eircom employee, desperately hoping that the government will save you. Sorry but I've little sympathy for you.

BTW without the debt, I'm guessing Eircom would be worth between 1 and 2 billion.

Irrelevant if you have a solution or else you don't understand it. If the Dublin area network and associated IT systems and staff were bought then the rest of the network doesn't have any of the necessary IT systems, staff or processes required to operate a network e.g. it doesn't have a billing system. Developing the associated IT systems for telco networks are large bespoke IT projects, not something which can be replicated overnight especially by a govt with a questionable track record for delivering comparable IT solutions. As for the eircom employee desperately seeking salvation, your plan would see that individual becoming a state employee so how come I'm not a fan ?

watty

Such a sell off wouldn't happen.

Any dismemberment would be as I suggest.

Developing the associated IT systems for telco networks are large bespoke IT projects, not something which can be replicated overnight especially by a govt with a questionable track record for delivering comparable IT solutions.

Especially for Mobile operators that ALL want to create complex packages so no one can compare.

They should have to quote Euros per 1Kg of chocolate like supemarkets.

bk

casey jones wrote: »

Irrelevant if you have a solution or else you don't understand it. If the Dublin area network and associated IT systems and staff were bought then the rest of the network doesn't have any of the necessary IT systems, staff or processes required to operate a network e.g. it doesn't have a billing system. Developing the associated IT systems for telco networks are large bespoke IT projects, not something which can be replicated overnight especially by a govt with a questionable track record for delivering comparable IT solutions. As for the eircom employee desperately seeking salvation, your plan would see that individual becoming a state employee so how come I'm not a fan ?

Really, do we need to get back into all this again?

Eircom wouldn't be broken up like that by a liquidator, they might separate out Meteor at most.

Anyway the Minister has fortunately shown some sense and has ruled it out.

There seems to be a few companies and groups interested in buying Eircom, so their is no need for the tax payer to get involved.