Comreg overhaul is a no-brainer for smart economy

bealtine

http://www.tribune.ie/business/technology/article/2009/sep/13/tech-week-eamon-mcgrane-comreg-overhaul-is-a-no-br/
by Eamon McGrane

Official statistics suggest that our broadband problems have alleviated. But look behind the official statistics and a different story emerges

Afew years ago I wrote an article about how, despite the PR puff coming from government, we were a "broadband banana republic". Now three years on has anything changed? Are we better placed? Or is the country still a broadband basket case?

Certainly the figures dished out would seem, at first glance, to be encouraging. In its report for the first quarter of this year the regulator Comreg said broadband subscriptions (fixed and mobile) continued to increase, hitting close to 1.3 million for the period representing an increase of 28% on the same time last year.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) also paints a bright picture. Its data indicates 43% of all households in Ireland now have a broadband connection. In addition nearly all of Irish medium enterprises employing 10 or more people now have a broadband connection. This compared with 68% in 2007 and 61% in 2006.

But scratch a little deeper and a different portrait emerges. It seems the first casualty of the broadband PR war is the truth.

The broadbandscape is certainly a rocky one. Smart Telecom is in trouble and will either go to the rocks, merge or be taken over. BT Ireland has thrown its hands up in relation to broadband and handed that part of its business over to Vodafone. Eircom remains… well, Eircom. And the 3G mobile carrier claims its product is broadband when it isn't – it's just dialup with better PR.

Add to this a government department headed by a minister that throws out the same old guff and sprinkle with a rudderless regulator locked into an endless round of discussions and consultation documents ultimately going nowhere.

Three years ago Ireland was towards the bottom of the broadband penetration league table. And we still are. According to Eamonn Wallace, chairman of lobby group Ireland Offline, the broadband arena is more or less at a standstill. He said the only discernable difference to the sector of late was that it has replaced fixed-line dialup with mobile dialup (3G).

And despite the government pushing 3G use into its broadband penetration figures, Wallace said it didn't address the core issue which is the "paucity of broadband infrastructure in the country".

Wallace is also critical of the government's plans for next generation networks (NGNs) to be the backbone of economic recovery by leveraging the digital economy. "The government is talking about NGNs but that doesn't address the local loop and people not getting broadband. The vast majority of broadband users are still on 3Mb, which is disgraceful. We should be expecting around the 20Mb range. We would have been seeing that if Eircom had bothered to invest in the network but it has done nothing for the past few years."

While Eircom has assumed the role of pantomime villain for some time, Wallace believes the company is now a victim of over regulation. "If Eircom was allowed to compete on the line rental then it could bring in reasonably priced broadband at the consumer sweet spot of around €30 like UPC is doing at the moment. It seems insane Eircom has to charge €50 for a 1Mb product – it's killing its business."

The biggest culprit he says is Comreg, describing it as being in a state of "perma-consult". The regulator's lack of decisiveness has meant that no company can invest or move forward, as Comreg has not laid out what it wants or what the broadband providers should be doing.

"It's a complete mess. Our stance is Comreg is the problem not the solution and while it's sitting around doing nothing broadband in the country dies," he said.

But what of 3G? One of the most high-profile communication offerings around? The problem here is that the speeds offered are rarely reached. Industry experts claim the average speed is around 100k – barely better than old fashioned dial-up.

The popularity of 3G has had a detrimental effect on the wireless operators providing real broadband. They are now being squeezed and have no money to invest in strengthening their products. The government has not helped this situation when you consider it essentially threw €80m at mobile-phone company 3 to, in effect, build a voice network when it should have been investing that in wireless infrastructure projects.

At a broadband conference hosted by UPC last week, the minister for communications spoke of how the smart economy was the platform for Ireland's recovery. Unfortunately there will be no smart economy if the progress of broadband remains stalled.

At the heart of this is the regulator. It needs to be the one to point the way forward rather than publishing endless consultation documents.

Perhaps it's time for Comreg to either be abolished and replaced with a more efficient organisation or for personnel changes within its ranks because in terms of broadband we're in a mess.

Tom Young

I think there is a bit more to it than just a ComReg overhaul. The issue is an overall lack of Communications Strategy as a nation.

Have a look at the perma consult remark, simply by counting you can measure the inactivity of ComReg etc. The recent disputes are a damming indictment to my mind, e.g., Ethernet.

Ryan has listened to industry and FDI investors more of late and the news on OSS is positive, but it is not enough.

Has to be engagement. Meanwhile the incumbent lobby still continues to work for eircom. See my thread on NGA Bias.

Tom

bk

Excellent article there, pretty much sums up all the problems with Comreg. Didn't think I'd ever see such a well researched article in the print media.

Tom however is also correct, Comreg is more of a symptom of a deeper problem, of the complete lack of understanding and direction on communication infrastructure from our government and politicians.

IrelandOffline_

Tom Young wrote: »

I think there is a bit more to it than just a ComReg overhaul. The issue is an overall lack of Communications Strategy as a nation.

Agreed and the point you raise was well discussed during the course of the discussion/interview. However the piece was a short one and the space was at a premium so that part ended up being left out.

I think it is implied from the article that the leadership from the Minister and from the top of Comreg is rudderless and no clear strategy is forthcoming.
However by clearly outlining the failings of Comreg it becomes clear that an overall direction is sorely lacking.

Blaster99

Why can't eircom compete on the line rental? I thought they set it.

trekkypj

Blaster99 wrote: »

Why can't eircom compete on the line rental? I thought they set it.

Line rental changes have to be sanctioned by Comreg, as far as I'm aware. They have to approve any changes upwards or downwards.

I think I remember reading something however that Comreg can't reduce line rental for some reason.... a technicality of some sort. I may be wrong in this

thebman

I don't understand why the media don't go after the other failed regulators using the Financial regulator as the classic example of how regulation isn't working in Ireland.

Isn't this a very obvious story that the masses would buy and easily understand?

Sponge Bob

I have long called for Comreg to be abolished . Just like the Financial Regulator they have an inbred culture of unprincipled lying and of obfuscation and bluster and uselessness....dare I say the Financial Regulator probably got some top tips off Comreg over the years

Both have left us with a burnt out wreckage instead of thriving and internationally competitive sectors on their watches .

Abolition and a clean slate would be the best thing, I have been calling for it for years. There is not a scintilla of evidence that I was wrong

bk

And the worst of it, is that the government are creating another such regulator in the transport area with the National Transport Authority (formerly Dublin Transport Authority).

The government loves these regulators as it allows them to deflect all blame off their own departments and onto Comreg, Financil Regulator, HSE, NTA, etc.