The Eircom propaganda machina roles on....

Dangger

Sunday Tribune article

Page 3 business section of the Sunday Tirbune (22/12/02), "The Business Interview" with Philip Nolan. It makes for some stoopid reading......


*machina (yeah that's right, as in Euripides)

PiE

Hehe, that's a very opinionated comment for the ioffline website :]

The other driver of broadband take-up will be content : as more homes will want access

What exactly does that mean Philip?

Pompous twat.

Dangger

Its the never ending, "safe hands", " I told you so", chicken and egg scenario. Destined to be played out to the millions over the Christmas period and beyond into the future.

Hehe, that's a very opinionated comment for the ioffline website :]

OMG Imagine that.;) What are we to do?

theciscokid

actually i think sweden is first not japan

ireland is second for the capita console rating

i could be wrong though :rolleyes:

PiE

Originally posted by Dangger
What are we to do?

Keep it up, I like it

mike65

Read that with my usual mix of heavy sighs and incredeulity.

Nolan justifying eircoms broadband roll out, reckons that as nearly all net acess is via the PC and as PC penatration is at only 40% ergo net useage will not widen. So no decent market for BB.

Had Nolan not considered that if BB was cheap and easy that home computer ownership would jump?

Mike.

spongebob

Biddy Cull back on in the new year.

heres €150k now feck off.

M

jmcc

Originally posted by Muck
Biddy Cull back on in the new year.
heres €150k now feck off.

Yeah Muck, but they want to make some of them into part-timers.

It remains to be seen if Eircom will be around this time next year. The plan for the Valentia mob was to have a junk bond issue so that they could get out of their debt obligations. The junk bond issue was postponed due to the absolutely dire state of the market. It looks like the Gombeen man and his friends are fscked.

Regards...jmcc

spongebob

or €5k to feck off for a while

...take a career break that is.

wait till the Civil Service unions cop onto that one

M

jmcc

Originally posted by Muck
wait till the Civil Service unions cop onto that one

But the civil service would still be there when the career break is over.

Regards...jmcc

spongebob

are we seeing a fraudulent bond prospectus being issued in order to finance a Valentia exit leaving the bondholders carrying the 'rat' rather than the can then John?

jmcc

Originally posted by Muck
are we seeing a fraudulent bond prospectus being issued in order to finance a Valentia exit leaving the bondholders carrying the 'rat' rather than the can then John?

Not exactly fraudulent Muck. But it does have a certain 1980s stink to it. Valentia probably paid well over the odds for Eircom in the first place and now are faced with pressures to service their own debts. I think one of the bankers involved took a major exposure on the debt as a result of the lack of interest (bad pun) being shown in the telco businesses last year.

Eircom does make a profit and was, until these gob****es took it over, a relatively debt free operation. The Valentia mob is basically stuck with an operation that is using most of its profits to service its debt. Eircom is facing threats from all sides with Esat and other telcos moving in rapidly to the ADSL market. Esat seems to be moving into more exchanges and deploying ADSL faster. The best bit of luck that Eircom has was in NTL completely banjaxing its telco/internet offering. If NTL had pulled it off, Eircom could have been looking at a loss of up to 50% of its domestic customers in key urban areas (Dublin, Waterford, Limerick, Galway etc).

The mobile market stuff is a kite I think. It is a distraction to the main business and Eircom need to make all the right noises now to interest potential investors. The cost of rentry would be high and with the market pretty well carved up between 02/Vodafone, Eircom would find it very difficult.

If the management in Eircom had half a clue, they would examine non-conventional internet connectivity such as WiFi. They already have the telco licence so they could integrate WiFi with a phone system to create an unholy hybrid based on IP. The rollout costs of such a network would probably be a lot cheaper and it would kill stuff like 3G stone dead. The smarter mobile telcos seem to understand this.

The staff problems at Eircom are making it unattractive to investors. The last thing that investors want is a 1970s style communist operation. The high worker ownership percentage is a worrying thing because it gives the employees a major advantage on getting a favourable deal in any negotiations even at the expense of the company.

Eircom has a monopoly at the moment. But its greatest threat comes from disruptive hybrid technologies. If something cheap that bypassed Eircom's last mile stranglehold was available (a widespread basis), Eircom's future would look pretty dire. The transition from a largely fixed line business to a highly mobile one is probably a good indication of where technology is headed. The problem for Eircom is that the shower of **** who were in charge sold Eircel at a knock down price and therefore put the future viability of Eircom in danger. To get back in the mobile market, Eircom would have to either rent or rebuild the infrastructure.

Investing in new infrastructure for a mobile network would require money and the debt that Eircom has at the moment would make it difficult to raise that kind of investment.

The junk bond issue is probably the only way that these guys could make a rapid exit without having to wipe off their investment. I don't think anyone has referred to them as junk bonds yet but the indications are not good. Running any telcoms related business means that there has to be a continual investment in new gear and new people. Eircom does not seem to be making those investments and seems more to be retrenching in order to preserve its present market rather than growing it. The aggressive marketing to try and recapture ex-customers will only intesify as bigger and better funded telcos like Esat start moving on Eircom's traditional market.

The Eircom debt costs have probably stopped Eircom from introducing a viable ADSL product in all areas. It now has to sit back and watch Esat mop up the market. In a way it is sad - if they had the right management it could have been a good operation. Long term - Eircom is probably fscked unless it does something innovative. Its market share is slipping and it is vulnerable to new technologies. Dinosaurs like Eircom take time to die but in some cases, new technologies could be like the KT Event and wipe them out far more quickly than anyone expects. The debt issue has effectively crippled it in the short term. Getting rid of some of the biddies may help but will it be enough and in time?

Regards...jmcc

MDR

IOFFL Committee <-- mad as hell ... :mad:

where does the good doctor think up this drivel from,
he apparentily has never read a copy of the
'ODTR consultation of the future deliver of broadband'

Broadband need but one catalyst - FRIACO
The internet is its own killer app.

kamobe

There's a thread running parallel to this claiming that Eircom banked €100 million (net profit) last year, and that Valentia are the ones who are in debt, not Eircom.

So is Eircom making money, or not?

SkepticOne

Originally posted by jmcc
If the management in Eircom had half a clue, they would examine non-conventional internet connectivity such as WiFi. They already have the telco licence so they could integrate WiFi with a phone system to create an unholy hybrid based on IP. The rollout costs of such a network would probably be a lot cheaper and it would kill stuff like 3G stone dead. The smarter mobile telcos seem to understand this.

I agree that WiFi style mobile broadband will kill 3G, but I don't think Eircom will get involved until they absolutely have to. There is too much money to be make out of good old dial-up, ISDN and leased lines. If they did bring it out now, they would have to charge the earth to compensate themselves like they are doing with ADSL.

yellum

Originally posted by MDR

The internet is its own killer app.

7 words that ring so true. Thats all that needs to be said really.

jmcc

Originally posted by yellum
7 words that ring so true.

The internet is a tool for the mind. Without it, you'd be an Eircom executive. Broadband enlightens.

Regards...jmcc

SkepticOne

Originally posted by jmcc
The internet is a tool for the mind. Without it, you'd be an Eircom executive.

Though the financial compensation might not be as great. You would be like a poor Alfie Kane. People would laugh at you but you couldn't wave 7.2M back at them.

eircomtribunal

Originally posted by SkepticOne
Though the financial compensation might not be as great. You would be like a poor Alfie Kane. People would laugh at you but you couldn't wave 7.2M back at them.

OHP

Originally posted by eircomtribunal

That has to be the best pic I have seen yet on these boards. It's TRUE! I tell ya LOL

Nice one eircomtribunal I love it


OHP

zynaps

Originally posted by jmcc
Dinosaurs like Eircom take time to die but in some cases, new technologies could be like the KT Event and wipe them out far more quickly than anyone expects.

Well, if eerily, put... very interesting post
I love when people do that..

zynaps