The Economist, and a rant

dahamsta

Great article in The Economist, "Broadband blues":

http://www.economist.com/business/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=666610

Interesting excerpts:

The irony is that, while the world’s telecoms firms spend a fortune building third-generation mobile-phone networks, even though they are not sure that anybody wants them, in many parts of the world they seem unable or unwilling to provide broadband connections at reasonable prices, even though customers want them. Horror stories abound of long waiting lists, botched installations and deliberate foot-dragging by monopolistic incumbents. What is going on?

Think about that for a minute: How many people are actually going to need video in the field? How many people are really going to game on the bus, in the pub or in a cafe? On a global level it's a lot, probably millions of people, but it's literally a drop in the ocean compared to the people who would and will use broadband from the comfort of their own homes and businesses. Didn't/don't the telco's see this? Sure, 3G is cool, but shouldn't fixed-line broadband be the priority - shouldn't it *always* have been the priority? Are the telco's really so stupid that the pundits and technophiles were able to convince them that 3G is the way to go now? I don't know about you, but I can wait for 3G. I can't wait for always-on and broadband though. Literally, I can't wait. Not having them is hurting my business.

Meanwhile, the telephone network is usually in the hands of a state-owned (or formerly state-owned) monopoly that is reluctant to cannibalise corporate high-speed Internet access revenues by offering cheaper broadband. The result can be that nothing happens—as in Ireland, for example.

Which begs the question: Why did the ODTR not see this coming, or if they did, why didn't they take action? I saw it at least two years ago, and I'm hardly a telecommunications expert. It was obvious to anyone with even a modicum of sense that Eircom were going to battle against local loop unbundling from the off. It had happened in other countries, our next-door neighbour being a prime example. Why didn't the ODTR learn from previous, high-profile mistakes? Why did the ODTR not get tough with Eircom and introduce a fines sytem on January 1, when it *should* have been introduced?

Here's a question for Martin to ask the Regulator: Does the ODTR genuinely believe that they are succeeding in their role as the Regulator of the telecommunications industry in Ireland? I've seen reports on the ODTR website that tell me Irish business are happy with progress, but I can tell you that I'm an Irish businessman, and I'm not happy at all. Not one line unbundled. Not one nationally available flat-rate available. Broadband solutions only available to a tiny percentage of the population.

And what progress is being made? I don't see any, in fact if anything we're going backwards. The only nationally available partial flat-rate service is no longer accepting new users, and is disconnecting current users, which smacks of discontinuation to me. A wireless service in Cork discontinued with no new date for rollout. Eircom and Esat still telling the public that DSL will be available in three months, which they've been saying for two years now. Still no cable Internet offering from Chorus, and a stalled offering from NTL. A Cork ISP shuttered directly because of the lack of local loop unbundling. Progress? Progress my granny.

It just makes me so ANGRY!

adam

LegacyUser

I know exactly how you feel Adam and the one thing that ****es me off the most is that Eircom are ripping us off and getting away scot free. There is a few members of senoir mamagment very high up in that organisation, laughing themselves to the bank at our expense. There is no use in reasoning with them, and the only way they will jump is if one would make it seem unprofitable for them to contunie what theyre doing. If i was the leader of this country I would impose a massive tax on Eircom until they set themselves straight. Its now 2001 and there still is no sort of solution for any of us. I felt the only thing I could do was to get my 2nd line cut off in protest, so the day I got my phonebill, I rang up and kindly asked them to sever my line immediatly. Them *******s wont get another penny off me.

Thanks for reding,
Matt

PS: Silly idea but maybe any of us who have isdn or a second phone line from eircom could have it cut. Mass protest thing??

LegacyUser

I was in the process of ordering an Eircom hi-speed line, but now told them [Eircom] to cancel my order until they introduced an unmetered Internet access service.

LegacyUser

About the 3G thing. I've always found it amusing the way the telcos bang on about video on your phone, email on your phone, stock quotes on your phone etc. They don't seem to envisage that if 3G takes off, people will likely be using these services using lap-tops, organisers etc. Telephones are just dumb for this kind of thing.

dahamsta

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I was in the process of ordering an Eircom hi-speed line, but now told them [Eircom] to cancel my order until they introduced an unmetered Internet access service.</font>

If it was an option, I'd do it, but unfortunately it's not. Some people may not like this concept, but for most consumers, the services we're talking about here are a luxury. For me, they're a necessity, services I need to run my business effectively and keep my overheads to a minimum. My business partner in the US pays less than $40 a month for a 512k downstream / 128k upstream ADSL connection with no caps. That's it, that's how much it costs, period. Conversely, I pay £150-200 a month for Internet connectivity. It's actually coming to the stage where a leased line would be better value for me, which is a disgraceful situation.

But I'm just one SME. There's thousands, tens of thousands of SME's there who would reap immediate benefits from proper Internet connectivity. National and international presence; more effective support systems; improved revenues; teleworking; in-the-field connectivity with the home base; etc etc. And let's not just think about business, let's not forget the disabled people for whom Internet connectivity is a gateway to the outside world.

What annoyed me most of late was the backslapping from the ODTR on their broadband satisfaction survey. Who did they ask? They certainly didn't ask regular Internet users, or they wouldn't be backslapping. They obviously didn't ask SME's, who can't run their businesses effectively on the Internet. No, they seem to have asked big businesses, who have multi-megabit leased lines, and to whom the cost of those leased lines is a pittance.

Like I said, the ODTR have nothing to be backslapping about. The local loop should have been unbundled *before* the EU released a directive on the matter. I should be able to phone around for pricing on a DSL line today. It's shameful, it's embarassing. When it comes to the Internet, we're quite simply a third-world country. We've been left behind.

adam

LegacyUser

If the loop hadn't been "privatised" with Telecom/Eircom... the company would have eventually collapsed, especially with the level of overheads it had/has accumulated over the decades. That's alot of lost votes.

Hell, without the loop...no takeover/purchase.

jd

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by dahamsta:
A Cork ISP shuttered directly because of the lack of local loop unbundling. Progress? Progress my granny.

It just makes me so ANGRY!

adam</font>

are genesis gone??
jd

LegacyUser

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by dahamsta:
What annoyed me most of late was the backslapping from the ODTR on their broadband satisfaction survey. Who did they ask? They certainly didn't ask regular Internet users, or they wouldn't be backslapping. They obviously didn't ask SME's, who can't run their businesses effectively on the Internet. No, they seem to have asked big businesses, who have multi-megabit leased lines, and to whom the cost of those leased lines is a pittance.</font>

It is meaningless to ask multinationals in Ireland if they are satisfied with the infrastructure. If a multinational is in Ireland, it means that, for the operations they perform here (for example, software boxing / "manufacturing", final-stage computer assembly, localisation etc.), they are satisfied. They can move operations that require decent infrastructure anywhere in the world. This Article in PCLive puts paid to the idea that we have a world class infrastructure.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">The report also claimed that a third of European business managers perceive the UK as the leading European information economy, followed closely again by Germany. Countries like the UK, Germany and even Hungary, are ahead of Ireland in implementing technologies such as ADSL. Our government is not the only one that is friendly toward tech companies or that claims to be forward thinking in its legislation. Britain claims to be the only country with an e-Envoy, Andrew Pinder, the UK governments 'information age evangelist'.
</font>

Companies that require world class infrastructure simply aren't here. The ones that are left are satisfied with what we've got. Of course the grants, low corporation tax, e-commerce legislation helps as well.


[This message has been edited by Skeptic1 (edited 26-06-2001).]