Fujitsu unveils plans to bring fibre to 5 million homes and businesses in rural UK

rardagh

Interesting recent announcement of a competitive NGN rollout proposal in the UK has outlined that the use of unbundled network elements such as duct, sub-duct, fiber, and pole access is key to cost effective buildout.

http://www.fujitsu.com/uk/news/pr/fs_20110413.html

Comreg has not made any substantive interventions to advance the availability of these network elements to OLOs, and the progress of their NGN steering group has stalled, http://www.comreg.ie/telecoms/next_generation_networks.565.593.html, or at least remains too sensitive to share with the public.

Additionally, in their briefing note to the new minister ( http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/Corporate+Units/Minister/Ministers+Brief/Communications.htm ) the Department has continued to advance the excuse of State Aid being a problem, despite the EU guidelines being in place, http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1332 , since 2009, to allow them to designate areas where State Aid interventions for NGN deployment can be Department funded.

I thought to offer out two suggestions, and hoped to start a discussion on what could be practically done, initially without spending significant monies, to kick start NGN further in Ireland, in the short term:

1. The Department to undertake the detailed mapping of NGN availability in the State, pursuant to "17.9.2009 Community Guidelines for the application of State aid rules in relation to rapid deployment of broadband networks
Official Journal C 235, 30.9.2009, p.7"

2. The Department to adopt, using Primary Legislation, the recommendations of the European Commission, even in advance of EU decisions, of 20 September 2010 on regulated access to Next Generation Access Networks (NGA), http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32010H0572:EN:NOT , and give Comreg the additional powers to intervene in the market to facilitate NGA roll out.

rob808

The worst thing is Ireland gona have the slowest broadband in europe and be left behind and our high level of debt very worrying and pat rabbit other ryan which is a bad thing.