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newstalk106 5.25 friday 18th
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18-10-2002 1:20pm#1
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Join Date:Posts: 29920
I'm up for talking about this too if you want. I have some pointed views on the topic.
Welcome to Boards btw... glad to see someone from a commercial outfit interacting with the Boards community in a way thats more then "Hey come buy our stuff". Seems a trend may be starting
DeV.0 -
Congratulations Ray! The interview went very well and George Hook intends to call the ODTR first thing on Monday morning to investigate things further.
We'll get the interview up on the web asap, along with the other ones I have lurking around the place!
newstalk, if you have Minister Ahern on the show its imperative to have him address the lack of dial up flat rate product specifically , as it is something that is years overdue and could be introduced in a very short time if only Eircom would offer a wholesale interconnect offer. Nevada Tele.com and EsatBT have been actively negotiating for months for the release of such a product. Esat previously tried and dropped out of negotiations back in 1999.
My earlier mail to you outlined some of the reasons why we are where we are, and I would be happy to provde you with further information.
Having the Minister go on about the New Connections plan just wouldn't cut it. People (and of course radio presenters ) are getting more up to speed on the issues. Action is seriously required. Rolling out fibre connections is great (as covered in the New Connections plan) but will take time, in the mean time lets have dial up flat rate so everyone in the country can get online in the run up to broadband being available in their area.
We've seen the Minister take steps to address the Sky FAI situation, but dare I say this is bigger (way bigger!) than football! Our government has prided itself on the notion that it is the E-hub of Europe for years. Look at the OECD rankings, look at how much it costs us to ues the Internet, look at the lack of broadband, we are far from being E-Hub, we're not even an outer spoke yet.
The market fallout is not an excuse. We were in this same situation back in the late nineties when the government had plenty of money, as did the telcos.
People want broadband, and the people who think they don't want broadband need flat rate for the time being (many will then migrate to broadband). But people need to be able to go online at an afffordable price, we must stop the clock on Internet access. Metered Internet use and costs are preventing people from using it in Ireland.
Perhaps Philip Nolan from Eircom could also be approached for comment. One reason Eircom do not want to see flat rate introduced is blindingly obvious. Look to their recent financial results indicating the individual business units results. Indigo and Eircom.net are two of the few business units actually making profit. Its quite clear that Eircom will continue to stifle Internet use and cream as much as they can from dial up users rather than developing the market and offering improved services. With an Internet penetration rate of 38% there is a huge amount of potential growth. But Eircom's strategy is all short term, and as a result the country suffers.
Eircom's other line is that people don't want broadband, and businesses don't want broadband. Do Eircom have a crystal ball? How do they know that people don't want it when many do not even know what it is as it is not available? Its the classic chicken and egg argument. Eircom will say what is needed is a killer app, but telcos have made the mistake of waiting for a driver of a technology before. Look how they under estimated SMS (texting). The kiler apps are out there already, always on pervasive communications, teleworking, audio conferencing, software package upgrades, education eg. streamed presentation of course modules, e-government sites, entertainment in the form of online gaming, telemedicine........but its not content that Eircom can control.
The problem now is that while our fellow Europeans have had access to a multitude of Internet access products suiting their speed and budget requirements for years now here in Ireland we are stuck with pay per minute access at crawlingly slow speeds. We are told ISDN (Hi Speed as it has confusingly been branded by Eircom) is fast Internet access, its ANCIENT and far from broadband. It has a max speed of 128kbs, broadband is over at least 512kbs!!!! We have been left far behind.
I'm sure many of the Digital Content creation companies working in the Digital Hub area of Dublin would comment on the situation. There is no market for many of their creations here as there is simply not the connectivity required to deliver it to businesses and homes.
Like I said I'll be in touch!
David Long
Chairman IrelandOffline0 -
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just a short note to give a bit of advance warning
currently looking at possibly friday for the next slot for ioffl
we are puttin in bids for ze government also ntl and eircom
ill update you as it comes together
brian@newstalk106.ie
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