[Irish Times] Eircom fails to win single schools broadband contract

damien

Eircom fails to win single broadband contract

Eircom fails to win single broadband contract
Jamie Smyth, Technology Reporter




Eircom has failed to win a single State broadband contract to supply internet connectivity to 4,200 schools in the Republic in a recent tender for suppliers. The contracts are worth up to €20 million over three years.

The firm has been outbid by several rival companies, which will use a selection of fixed, wireless and satellite technologies to deliver broadband to both primary and secondary schools.

Eircom, which bid for a wide range of the connectivity deals, has only secured a contract to provide and manage "routers" - special computer systems that link together to offer broadband internet access - at the schools.

This deal is estimated to be worth just €2 million, a fraction of the €20 million value of the total schools broadband project over three years. It is also a much lower-margin business than the broadband connectivity contracts offered in the State deal.

Eircom's failure to secure any of the connectivity deals in the schools project is a wake-up call for the company, which is likely to face a similar State tender worth about €130 million in May.

The Department of Finance is expected to put out to tender the Government's VPN contract, a controversial deal which contracts Eircom as the State's sole supplier of fixed line telecoms services. This deal is worth up to €130 million per year to Eircom, and its loss would be a major blow to the incumbent operator.

The Irish Times has learned that the Government sent letters to the successful firms in the schools project yesterday confirming which contracts they had secured from the tender process.

Successful bidders include the wireless firm Irish Broadband, and Esat BT, although the State's second-biggest fixed-line firm did not do as well as expected.

Eircom said last night that it had not been informed about the broadband connectivity deals, but confirmed that it had been awarded the router contract.

Firms that have been awarded connectivity contracts will be encouraged to build broadband infrastructure in an effort to promote competition in the sector.

Eircom's failure to land one of the lucrative connectivity deals is particularly ironic, given that the firm is providing up to €3 million funding for the project.

This donation was part of a total industry commitment to the schools broadband project from the likes of Esat BT, Vodafone and O2, worth €18 million. The Government made up the €2 million shortfall.

The broadband contracts decided by the Government will enable schools to offer videoconferencing, email and a range of other Web services to pupils.

HEAnet, the State's existing educa tion and research network, will manage a central broadband network on behalf of the Government.

Moriarty

As part of a press release from the DCMNR this evening..

..

The successful bidders were as follows:


Digiweb - 1,428 schools

Smart Telecom - 1,041 schools

Irish Broadband - 592 schools

ESAT BT - 585 schools

Last Mile - 215 schools

HS Data - 87 schools

..

lucernarian

I'm very dissapointed about the high numbers of contracts awarded to Digiweb because the bulk of their contracts I'm sure are satellite-based. I don't think Digiweb won many ADSL or wireless contracts because the other companies supplying through ADSL seemed to win a lot of contracts. I assume Smart Telecom are supplying broadband exclusively through ADSL?

bealtine

I was wondering if anybody (yet) has a breakdown of "who got what and where"?

Mr_Man

It looks like this information will not be released until the end of the month at the earliest as detailed contract negotiations have not yet been completed according to the DoE this afternoon.

If anybody knows any different I'd be delighted to hear about it as it could have a significant impact on the GBS scene.

Thanks

M.

eircomtribunal

Mr_Man wrote:

...as it could have a significant impact on the GBS scene.

Wasn't it made clear by the DCMNR that the schools bb programme does not in any way inter-link with the Group Broadband scheme (as unbelievable as it may sound)?
P.

bealtine

eircomtribunal wrote:

Wasn't it made clear by the DCMNR that the schools bb programme does not in any way inter-link with the Group Broadband scheme

Joined up thinking comes right after joined up writing in schools...

All the same, if a wireless co puts up a mast/base station to supply a school then maybe, possibly they might even offer bandwitth to ordinary people.

Imagine that:-)

PS Did I mention that satellite is utter crap and should not be considered as broadband in the "first world"? It is so patently useless and so utterly expensive to run when the dialup costs are taken into consideration and guess who will be footing that bill? Yes you guessed it the parents as usual.

Another fabulous idea to liberate more money from the hapless consumer brought to you by Dermos and Noels mates...

eircomtribunal

ENN report on the school bb programme http://www.enn.ie/frontpage/news-9574896.html

School broadband cash is divvied up
Thursday, January 13 2005
by Charlie Taylor

Dundalk-based internet services provider Digiweb has been awarded the single biggest contract in the Broadband for Schools programme.School broadband cash is divvied up


The company emerged as the clear winner among bidders with a contract to provide broadband access to 1,428 schools throughout the country. Smart Telecom was awarded the second biggest contract and is set to supply high-speed Internet access to 1,041 schools, a deal which the firm estimates is worth approximately EUR6 million.

The aim of the Broadband for Schools initiative is to link schools to a centralised system managed byHEANet, Ireland's national education and research network. The network will provide content filtering, virus scanning, firewall and intrusion detection services for the schools and it is hoped that the network will ultimately act as a platform for the hosting and delivery of curriculum-related digital content, video-conferencing and a range of other applications.

The nationwide project will involve installation of a mix of broadband technologies in schools, including wireless, fixed-line (DSL) and satellite. The initiative is primarily funded by the Irish telecommunications industry which pledged EUR18 million to the programme, while the government has committed EUR2 million.

Commenting on the awarding of the contract to Digiweb, the company's managing director Colm Piercy said that he believed the firm's work with schools over the past few years had helped it do well out of the tendering process. "We've been very active in the education sector of late and have provided around 17 schools with broadband access -- sometimes on a commercial basis and sometimes free of charge," said Piercy. "We've also concentrated on developing a number of services such as content filtering and school-wide e-mail addresses which are ideal for the sector."

As reported by ElectricNews.Net on Wednesday, Irish Broadband and Esat BT were also winners of contracts from the Department of Communications with Irish Broadband contracted to supply broadband services to 592 schools while Esat BT will provide high-speed internet access to 585 schools.

The other successful contract bidders were Last Mile, which operates throughout the Midlands and Cork-based HS Data, who will supply 215 schools and 87 schools respectively. However, Eircom, Ireland's biggest provider of high-speed internet services, failed to win a contract of any significance. The only contract awarded to the incumbent was a EUR2 million one to provide and mange routers at schools.

ALTO, the industry group representing alternative operators in the telecommunications sector, welcomed the announcement of the results of the tender process. "Today's announcement is a significant boost for competition in the broadband sector and should bring new investment to many parts of the country," said Iarla Flynn, ALTO's chairman.

The industry group also recommended that the government apply continue to use the tiered approach which was used for the schools broadband tender across all government tenders in future.

"We would like to see this approach adopted when the contract for all of the state's communications needs is tendered later this year. By adopting a tiered approach, new entrants could tender for specific parts of the state's communications needs, thereby giving the government much better choice and value," added Flynn.

Why the hell would Eircom get 500 euros per school (2 million for 4000 schools) for providing a sub 100 euro router? Sure most of the "managing" of the routing would be done by the bb provider to the school.

P.

jwt

Should be a giggle watching them telnet through a VPN connection to remote configure the router at the far end of a Sat connection

John