[SR]Broadband targets can still be achieved - Dempsey

viking

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single5160

“It’s important to set ambitious targets and to try to achieve those. The 500,000 target is ambitious but it can be achieved,” he remarks.

For once, Dempsey lets his mask of cheery optimism slip and concedes that the Government’s hands are effectively tied on the matter. “The only way we can achieve LLU is for ComReg to make the regulations, which it has done, and set the dates for [LLU] to be done by. Living in a democracy, there are appeal systems in place and Eircom is using those. The EAP will hear those appeals and you’re inevitably looking at a six-month appeal period.”

Dempsey describes LLU as the “best option” but with the process stalled in the courts, he believes the government-backed metropolitan area networks (MANs) can play a key role in keeping the national broadband strategy on track. But there is another problem here: backhaul. “It’s generally more expensive to use broadband between Dublin and Cork and Dublin and New York. It affects everyone outside the Greater Dublin Area,” notes Dempsey.

How many MAN's are switched on? How many are not?

If the telecoms firms and semi-state bodies that own the various fibre networks crisscrossing the country say they cannot carry traffic cheaply enough to make MANs attractive to end users, Dempsey says he will intervene to resolve the problem. “If Eircom continues to go down road of questioning and challenging everything then obviously we’ll have to look at alternatives and one of this would be whether we could co-ordinate and ensure that the fibre-optic cable that’s there is used — and used well.”

The bottom line for our Communications Minister is that, while it is natural to criticise the Government when things go wrong, the criticism is not justified — at least where broadband is concerned.

eircomtribunal

This target still stands today. “It’s important to set ambitious targets and to try to achieve those. The 500,000 target [by end 2006] is ambitious but it can be achieved,” he remarks.

Noel, put your teacher cap on, pick up the chalk and write on the blackboard:
[size=+2]74 weeks until end 2006;
350 000 new broadband connections needed;
350 000:76=?[/size]

P.

Sponge Bob

The very next Red Bull Air Race will take place at a secret location in County Meath in 2006 and will feature pigs rather than airyplanes.

bealtine

?

Did a flock of pigs just fly past the dail?

damien

Worthy of the Onion, hilarious quotations from our Minister.

eircomtribunal

damien.m wrote:

Worthy of the Onion, hilarious quotations from our Minister.

I especially liked the one where democracy is blamed

Living in a democracy...

that is a new one! After the dotcom crash, the low population density, the missing cable competition, the low computer penetration, the missing apartment blocks etc.the DCMNR is simply not running out of excuses.
P.

De Rebel

Next thing you know we'll be told he only heard how bad things were when he was sitting in his bath

bealtine

De Rebel wrote:

Next thing you know we'll be told he only heard how bad things were when he was sitting in his bath

Smells like election nonsense to me...but then I'm just a cyncic

eircomtribunal

Enn have an article written by Charlie Taylor about Broadband success or otherwise and Dempsey's claims..

....A recent European Union study placed Ireland 19th out of 25 countries in broadband take-up, behind countries such as Latvia, Slovenia and Estonia.

On coming into office last year, the new Communications Minister Noel Dempsey set what he termed a "realisable" target of 400,000 broadband customers nationally by the end of 2006. But it seems increasingly unlikely that such a figure will be reached given that the total number of broadband subscribers in Ireland at the end of 2004 was a paltry 131,550, according to Comreg figures.

P.

flamegrill

eircomtribunal wrote:

Enn have an article written by Charlie Taylor about Broadband success or otherwise and Dempsey's claims..

P.

arent those figures solely based on eircom\bitstream resellers?

Ibb/digiweb/rand($wireless_isp) will surely have another *150k if not more customers by the end of 2006

Paul

* unknown as to how many wireless customers that there are as of yet ... iBB are launching in carlow mid-august ... - digiweb are already there ...

eircomtribunal

flamegrill wrote:

arent those figures solely based on eircom\bitstream resellers?

Ibb/digiweb/rand($wireless_isp) will surely have another *150k if not more customers by the end of 2006

Paul

* unknown as to how many wireless customers that there are as of yet ... iBB are launching in carlow mid-august ... - digiweb are already there ...

The end 2004 broadband user figure of 130 000 is of all broadband users. Remember, Eircom proudly had announced that it had reached its 100 000 user target. (And that was incl. of the bit-stream resellers).

According to Dempsey we are currently "inching" towards 160 000 broadband connections (incl. of cable and wireless; probably also incl. of satellite).

Eircom are not worried about the wireless providers, who face difficulties alien to the incumbent (expensive customer equipment, expensive installation, expensive backhaul provision, difficulties to extend reach beyond the dsl enabled areas...).
With the possible start of successful LLU by SMART and BT locked up in the courts (due to the fact that we in Ireland seem to be the only EU country which bothers having a democracy – that's Dempsey's latest argument), Eircom happily screws the 40% – 50% of the population forced into dial-up for money, while claiming a 80% – 90% dsl coverage.
P.

lucernarian

I see that his undying love of "targets" remains so: undying. But it's to be expected I suppose. There are the guts of 18 months to go for this target to be met and that's a long time away for a politican, especially if he admitted that it would not be achieved. I wonder how some of my teachers would feel if they heard about their former colleague's slant on the state of telecoms in Ireland and what he hopes it to be in less than 18 months time.

damien

Dempsey appears to be waiting for an election so he won't have to answer for the targets mess if he gets back into power and into the cabinet. Jeez, that is unless someone makes it an election issue.

It is highly interesting too that the judge in yesterday's High Court action pointed out Dempsey's lack of clue.

eircomtribunal

damien.m wrote:

It is highly interesting too that the judge in yesterday's High Court action pointed out Dempsey's lack of clue.

How was that done?

Dempsey should now act on his promise:

“If Eircom continues to go down road of questioning and challenging everything then obviously we’ll have to look at alternatives and one of this would be whether we could co-ordinate and ensure that the fibre-optic cable that’s there is used — and used well.”

Problem is that using the MANs, which is what he must have meant with 'using the fibre-optic cable...well', is not the alternative; the MANs have never had been properly thought through from the start. The DCMNR hails them as a huge success, because they were built in time and within budget, forgetting that they are useless as an alternative, competitive broadband delivery instrument.
P.

damien

eircomtribunal wrote:

How was that done?

From the Examiner:

The judge noted that Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey had said he would not set up an appeal panel because of the proceedings. It was difficult to see why that approach was taken, he said.

eircomtribunal

Thanks, and I see now there's more on siliconrepublik here

The court said the Minister for Communications should have given more serious consideration to Eircom's repeated request for the establishment of the appeals panel and that ComReg's direction imposed new requirements on Eircom. The court also directed ComReg to pay Eircom's costs.

The effects of this are dire, unless this is a wake-up call for the gov to seriously deal with Eircom.

However, according to Evans, it could be a year before the present impasse over bitstream/LLU migration could be heard by the panel. “Ultimately the High Court ruled Eircom must have a right to appeal and it was no fault of the company that there wasn’t an appeals committee up and running when the issue came to light. While there is now a appeals panel in existence it could be a year before anything gets done.”

He added: “Basically this knocks our plans back. We have no choice but to look at bitstream and wholesale products rather than build our own services. For the consumer that means little innovation or price-quality improvements for the near future. ComReg needs to be given powers to ensure its decisions are followed without having to go to court every time.”

P.

eircomtribunal

eircomtribunal wrote:

Dempsey should now act on his promise:
P.

The siliconrepublic article (seems to be inaccessible at the time)(highlight by me) is worth reading:

Broadband targets can still be achieved — Dempsey ?
27.07.2005 - Setting targets in public life — be it hospital waiting lists or broadband customers — is a treacherous affair for any politician. While they can bask in the initial glow of praise for having made a strong commitment, they risk ridicule if those targets are not met.
Communications Minister Noel Dempsey TD (pictured) must know this but it has not stopped him from setting targets — and sticking to them. Soon after he took up his new portfolio last Autumn, he made an address to the Telecoms and Internet Federation’s (TIF) annual conference where he reiterated the Government’s target of having 400,000 broadband customers by the end of 2006 and then moved the bar higher by challenging the telecoms sector to sign up half a million customers by the same date.

This target still stands today. “It’s important to set ambitious targets and to try to achieve those. The 500,000 target is ambitious but it can be achieved,” he remarks.

The enormity of the challenge is put into perspective by the fact that the number of broadband subscribers was just 152,000 at the end of the first quarter, according to the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). Dempsey says the figure is nudging 160,000 now and, while he accepts that it will be a huge task, the progress over the past 18 months shows what can be achieved. “Back then we had about 10,000 subscribers and if anyone said we’d be on 160,000 18 months later they’d have been regarded as mad,” he points out.

It might be said politicians have to be optimistic out of necessity but Dempsey believes his positive outlook is based on more than just gut feel and chutzpah. For a start, there is a huge level of unmet demand out there, he argues. The recent progress made with the Group Broadband Scheme (GBS), which enables rural communities that would otherwise have no access to a broadband service to get broadband, is a good example, he feels. Initially, the €25m budget allocated by the Exchequer to cover the 2004-2006
period was being drawn down very slowly but, at the minister’s behest, the scheme was revamped and the results are beginning to show.
“We have seven regional co-ordinators and local authorities are involved an awful lot more and that has resulted in almost 150 communities applying this year,” he says.

“It’s been a huge success — a good partnership between a central department and local government.”

The scheme is not without its problems, however. Although waiting times have been reduced, it can still take six to eight months for a community to be up and running with broadband.

Moreover, while the scheme may provide a workable model for getting broadband out to remote areas, it does not address the issue of how to get affordable broadband to the bulk of the population. Local loop unbundling (LLU) was seen as the mechanism for doing this but so far the progress has been extremely disappointing — only 1pc of broadband services are provided through unbundled lines and Eircom is still the dominant supplier of broadband with 75pc market share. Moreover, it is fighting ComReg’s LLU efforts, both in the commercial courts and through the Electronic Appeals Panel (EAP).

For once, Dempsey lets his mask of cheery optimism slip and concedes that the Government’s hands are effectively tied on the matter. “The only way we can achieve LLU is for ComReg to make the regulations, which it has done, and set the dates for [LLU] to be done by. Living in a democracy, there are appeal systems in place and Eircom is using those. The EAP will hear those appeals and you’re inevitably looking at a six-month appeal period.”

Dempsey describes LLU as the “best option” but with the process stalled in the courts, he believes the government-backed metropolitan area networks (MANs) can play a key role in keeping the national broadband strategy on track. But there is another problem here: backhaul. “It’s generally more expensive to use broadband between Dublin and Cork and Dublin and New York. It affects everyone outside the Greater Dublin Area,” notes Dempsey.

If the telecoms firms and semi-state bodies that own the various fibre networks crisscrossing the country say they cannot carry traffic cheaply enough to make MANs attractive to end users, Dempsey says he will intervene to resolve the problem. “If Eircom continues to go down road of questioning and challenging everything then obviously we’ll have to look at alternatives and one of this would be whether we could co-ordinate and ensure that the fibre-optic cable that’s there is used — and used well.”

It is only when Dempsey talks about broadband in schools that his natural optimism resurfaces once more. “The Broadband for Schools initiative is just going to cause a complete explosion in demand for real broadband, especially when young people see the benefits and have the practical experience of using it.”

The bottom line for our Communications Minister is that, while it is natural to criticise the Government when things go wrong, the criticism is not justified — at least where broadband is concerned.

By Brian Skelly

It is scary, there is no understanding of the problem by the minister.

His new straw of hope, ("The Broadband for Schools initiative is just going to cause a complete explosion in demand for real broadband, especially when young people see the benefits and have the practical experience of using it.”) the school broadband scheme "exploding" the demand for "real" broadband is flawed. As a teacher himself Noel should know that what schools will do with the broadband option for students might not at all entice them to it. At best it will have only a miniscule impact, more likely it will have no impact or even a negative one. Only one thing is sure: the number of bb connections will rise by an additional 3000 by Mid 2006 due to the schools getting connected.
I am not saying schools could not make an impact, but for that to happen a few small miracles would need to occur. With no careful embedding into the curriculum, usage of the schools broadband connections will be "varied", to say it diplomatically.
P.

Headshot

i wonder will they ever do villages

SkepticOne

Dempsey's highlighting of the Schools broadband inititiative suggests that he, like ComReg, believes that the low availability of broadband is due to lack of demand - a myth originating in Eircom's PR department.

zuma

The availibility of broadband to schools will make ZERO difference!!!

Most of the benefits in BB are for recreational purposes...multimedia etc.

Dempsey is a very poor minister, in a long succession of incompetent Ministers in charge of the communications area.

We better get used to it people....things will only get worse!!!

damien

zuma wrote:

Dempsey is a very poor minister, in a long succession of incompetent Ministers in charge of the communications area.

Dermot Ahern was pretty good in fairness and by recent standards Ahern looks like a wunderkind.

lucernarian

Oh I can remember the nostalga now... Mary O'Rourke claiming that every home in Ireland will have 5 mbit connections by the end of 2005 (I think). Lol, myself and thousands of others do not even have access to 50 kbits per second connections as it stands now.