NRA to take on the role of the "one stop shop"?

clohamon

Nothing signed yet but the Minister intends to amend Part V of the Communications (Regulation) Act to allow NRA to make ducting on N and M roads accessible to telcos. Measure scheduled for next month.

http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2009-11-25.523.0&s=%22Telecommunications+Services.%22

As for a stand alone "One Stop Shop"...

The actual implementation of the “one-stop-shop” is a complex process involving engagement with a range of State Bodies who own the assets and also consideration of the best operational model to implement the concept. My Department has had internal engagement with the relevant State Bodies who are generally supportive of the proposal.
On foot of this engagement my Department has undertaken a review of State owned networks to determine the routes of infrastructure such as roads, electricity, gas and rail. A more detailed audit of the infrastructure in these networks will now be necessary in order to provide telecoms operators with the type of information they require to inform commercial decisions on broadband rollout.
It is my intention to establish an Implementation Task Force chaired by my Department and comprising senior officials from the relevant State agencies who own ducting infrastructure to oversee the project.
It is necessary, in advancing the concept of a co-ordinated service for telcos, to ensure that any arrangements will not impose net additional costs on them and will provide added value. We will also consider possible impacts on both private sector telcos and State companies with a telco arm to ensure that the introduction of the “one-stop-shop” supports a competitive market but does not create undue market distortions.
It is also important, in terms of future-proofing, to understand what alternative options telcos may have to the “one-stop-shop” concept and what impact regulatory changes may have on these over time. There are complex commercial, legal and technical issues, which my Department is progressing as quickly as possible

Four words. "Dead in the water"

Tom Young

More to this than meets the eye.

bealtine

Tom Young wrote: »

More to this than meets the eye.

Do tell...

Sponge Bob

They have to do some radial digging inside the pale , that would be the first big problem.

Lets call it the T51 problem

lucernarian

Sponge Bob wrote: »

They have to do some radial digging inside the pale , that would be the first big problem.

Lets call it the T51 problem

Eh?

Tom Young

bealtine wrote: »

Do tell...

A number of companies outside the pale - FDI investors [Whom shall remain nameless] had sought to upgrade access to their offices and networks. In many cases requiring digging and civil works at massive costs to suppliers - with awful push back from local planners etc. The NRA and some other state agencies had no ability to facilitate access even though there was unused state infrastructure luying idle. The NRA piece mentioned, the modification and future legislation is to cater for use of and 'proper' access to state assets (which are idle).

Tom

Sponge Bob

No NRA ducting reaches Dublin because the NRA only started to install ducts 10 years ago.

The duct to the west starts at Kilcock and the duct to the South West in Monasterevin.

Only Gas and Rail ducts exist east of those points into Dublin . Like anything else involving Eamon Ryan joined up thinking is purely wishful which is why we shall endure a painful wait for any meaningful legislation while he lashes out Broadcasting Acts instead

Frankly a ring or ringlet needs to be built around Dublin to the West and South west to connect these disparate networks , roughly from North of Enfield to Monasterevin to Athy in Kildare and then a diversity of Gas and Rail Routes should be available into Dublin with radial links ( many incomplete ) outwards .

I would extent that 'exemplar' network as far as that ring and onto that ring to push down the costs on the Lambda level.

bk

Sponge Bob wrote: »

Frankly a ring or ringlet needs to be built around Dublin to the West and South west to connect these disparate networks , roughly from North of Enfield to Monasterevin to Athy in Kildare and then a diversity of Gas and Rail Routes should be available into Dublin with radial links ( many incomplete ) outwards .
.

Was no more ducting laid by the NRA during the current M50 upgrades?

If not perhaps it would be cheaper to just buy the T50 network off Smart/Digiweb.

Of course I think the ideal solution would be to follow the Australian model. 51% owned by government 49% private, companies like Eircom, UPC, Smart, Vodafone, o2 etc. invited to transfer their fibre assets, etc. into the company for a share and access to the wider network.

trekkypj

The Australian model is fine for the urban and suburban areas and is a good idea. We need someone to assume overall control of the network, with an open network architecture, with capacity for all NGN services, including Digital TV like Smart's offering. I've always said there should be a National Fibre Commission. Let anyone onto the network who can show they are fit to offer a broadband service, be it an Irish company or one in Europe.

Rural areas are the problem and always have been. There's lots of them, and they've been neglected. What is the point of replacing copper on poles with copper, when you can put fibre on poles!

NGN access won't succeed here unless all the telcos are forced to merge their networks into a single shared network entity, either as a separate company, or as part of strong regulation which requires telcos to share infrastructure (both fixed and wireless) with punitive penalties for blocking access or not providing a decent broadband service.

I like the idea of a broadband agency or commission being 51% owned by the government and 49% owned by the telcos but the agency would have to be efficient and well run, and committed to a 100% roll-out. And given that the legacy of split pair gains and shared lines was under Government ownership.... I wouldn't be quick to cheer for nationalisation unless the organisation was obliged to do this and given funding to do it in a timely manner (say over a five year period).

There should also be some mechanism where small communities are given funding and regulatory assistance to form co-operatives and build their own quality local fibre network and hook up to backhaul. That's what I'm looking into myself on another thread. Telcos would be obliged to connect up and make use of such networks (at commercial rates) in the absence of investment being made themselves.

clohamon

The new measures referred to in the first post are in section 21 of this

As best as I can see this is the new regime.

M & N roads (national)

• NRA can deal with all ducting applications on all M & N, roads.
• NRA deals with relevant local councils and issues consent or not within 21 days
• Consent will include charges for administration and compliance certification.
• NRA may, after consulting with Comreg, require an operator to build extra ducting as part of the consent
• NRA may impose a system of charging for use of ducting by other networks on national roads.
• An operator may still apply directly to a local authority concerning a national road (but it seems likely that the application would be referred back up to the NRA).

R & L roads (regional & local)

• NRA to consult with local authorities within 60 days (of enactment) on a scheme of conditions and charges for deployment and use of ducting
• Minister for Transport sets guidelines for the consultation above and approves the system of charging with the Minister for Finance. (The Minister for the Environment and Local Government is out of the picture)
• Local authorities, after consulting Comreg may also require an operator to build extra ducting as part of a consent, but its not stated who gets the benefit from renting out ducting in the case of R & L roads.

There's a lot of other stuff about blame avoidance and compensation where operators damage each others kit or don't put the roads back properly. The conditions are identical in all cases - M,N,L & R roads

Overall it seems that the NRA has become the lead agency for duct management and in setting terms, conditions and charges for all roads, but operators still have to apply separately to the relevant local authorities for consents in the case of R & L roads even though the T & Cs will probably be from the same book.


The Minister has high hopes for the measures. The following exchange took place in the Dail last week.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Will the Minister require open access to infrastructure?

Eamon Ryan (Minister, Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources; Dublin South, Green Party)
Yes. Those measures will provide open access in a plethora of different ways to bring us back up to the very top of the league in broadband. That is happening. It happened yesterday in the courts and will happen in the Seanad tomorrow when we push the legislation through. I believe it will work; it is the right policy as against the alternative, which would have been a direct intervention, paying over money to the former Eircom owners which would not have worked. I am very glad we did not pursue this as a policy unlike others who proposed it.

Tom Young

It is a step forward I think. I also think that it signals a shift in priorities.

What we need now is a mandate to the local authorities in relation to the Information Society agenda.

Tom

Sponge Bob

I think local authorities may have their own priorities on R and L roads but the NRA is the lead agency for policy on M and N roads.

Tom Young

Sponge Bob wrote: »

I think local authorities may have their own priorities on R and L roads but the NRA is the lead agency for policy on M and N roads.

Yes, this is definitely the case. We do need to be seen to be and actually be an export led economy, in addition, the facilities which are luying dormant are assets to the state and indeed the local authorities.

clohamon

Sponge Bob wrote: »

I think local authorities may have their own priorities on R and L roads but the NRA is the lead agency for policy on M and N roads.

We'll have to see what sort of guidelines Noel Dempsey (for it is he) will issue to the NRA for the consultation with Local Authorities.

Sponge Bob

The NRA leads on M and N ( the aggregation network and backbone) while the local authorities sit atop the R and L ( the aggreation network and the access network)

Other than maybe formalising engineering and GIS standards the NRA has no role in much of the aggregation and all the access networks.

Tom, can you answer my PM pls.

clohamon

The consultation on the new arrangements closes 4th June.


Its not very welcoming to new infrastructure.

The website says this

The Authority has, in recent years, adopted a practice of installing roadside ducting as part of the construction of new motorway and dual carriageway sections of the network (please see map below). While the ducting is primarily intended for current and future road-related purposes, e.g. traffic route lighting, variable message signs, I.T. applications for traffic and road network management, etc., limited spare capacity exists in some of these ducts which could cater for non-road-related uses such as electronic communications cabling.

Inside the document it says this.

3.6 Installation of New Ducts.
National roads carry high volumes of traffic travelling at high speeds. This is particularly the case on the inter-urban motorway/ dual carriageway sections of the network where the maximum speed limit of 120 kph typically applies. Any proposal to install new ducting on such roads would, therefore, have very significant implications for the safety of road users and the operational efficiency of the roadway concerned, as well as the structural integrity of the carriageway.
Applications by network operators to install new/ additional ducting along rural sections of national roads will, accordingly, only be considered by the Authority in exceptional circumstances and where the proposed works do not require the excavation of the roadway.

rob808

clohamon wrote: »

The consultation on the new arrangements closes 4th June.


Its not very welcoming to new infrastructure.

The website says this




Inside the document it says this.

There we go no fibre coming at all the ducts are useless then that ireland for u great plaining and great thinking.:rolleyes: