Will this happen?
€435m pumped into a nationwide fibre-optic network, with state-owned fibre technology being utilised and broadband made universal by 2010?

Despite all the posturing back and forth I am still unclear as to why the state tells me they can't enable broadband in my area yet a private company tells me they can??

1. Government will target capital investment of €435m to address the digital divide

KK - key word here is target, out of the total sum of €435m to be spent on capital investment they will target some of that to address the digital divide. Others have noted this €435m comes from the NDP and is not specifically allocated to broadband alone and some of it has been spent already.

2. Universal broadband coverage in Ireland by late 2009 / early 2010

Broadband delivered by what means and define the speed of broadband? You could get something that would met current definitions of broadband by satellite at present, does that means we've already met this target? Fact is we should prioritise rollout to urban areas as part of because good planning practice, people forget that electrification took nearly 50 years to complete and telephony took longer. Demanding broadband everywhere for everyone right now is stupid and misses the point that many people in built up areas still can't get it so how could it be practical to be servicing places further out.

3. 100 Mbits per second broadband connectivity to be introduced to secondary schools on a phased basis

How long are the phases to be? And note this is 100 Mbits per second to a school, imagine how many pipes internally are going to be running off that and what the capacity per class/machine will be.

4. Future investment will be determined in accordance with value for money review of the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs)

We're only going to be "value for money review of the Metropolitan Area Networks" now? Did we build because they were pretty?

5. Ensure Ireland’s continued high level of international connectivity

The presumption in this is that Ireland currently has a high level of international connectivity and that the state provided it.

6. Major public infrastructure projects will have to install ducting at the construction phase. Government will establish a one stop shop to provide service providers with flexible and open access to existing and future ducting infrastructure

Would be a lot more interesting and useful if it required that all new industrial, commercial, and residential developments have to provide ducting to the door/office as part of the granting of planning permission. Is it the public sector infrastructure that is really the bottleneck here?

7. New premises will be required to install open access fibre connections where practicable

"where practicable" who makes that call?

8. Maintenance of the regulatory framework necessary for fair and transparent competition across a range of platforms. Allocation of spectrum to encourage trialling and development of flexible new mobile technologies

Key word "Maintenance", comreg aren't they doing a grand job and everything is just fine.

9. Use of Government purchasing power in order to stimulate demand, create economies of scale and better public services

Is the government going to buy something and resell it?

10. Establishment of a specialised research programme to monitor developments

Good idea it seems on the surface but why monitor if there is nothing in place to take actions if developments aren't panning out as intended. Are we going to see reports that say, "it's all gone to hell, so let's twiddle our thumbs shall we?"

You can get an alternate viewpoint here
http://www.mulley.net/2008/07/03/minist ... d-promises

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Thanks for the votes - Dan Sullivan. I'll be back and then we can all have a vote.


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It's the standard load of bluster, spoofery, empty rhetoric, re-heated old broken promises and lies.

South Korea and Singapore are almost finished rolling out 100 Mbps fibre to every house in the country. That's the current world benchmark, the target to aim for....but of course if we start aiming for that now, by the time we deliver it it will be seen as slow and antiquated.

Ireland needs to be at the bleeding edge of broadband rollout if our economy is to have any hope of surviving, not starting 6 miles back from the starting line of a 100 yard sprint wearing a blindfold with a broken ankle!

Our political class and civil service just don't understand technology.

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Je suis un loo-lah

I'm not sure I follow. If a private company can enable broadband in your area what's the problem?

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Worth breaking my "no sig" rule for:
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How come Eircom can't?

They're a private company too. What's the problem?

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Using P.ie again on a trial basis...

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- Nerdishness abounds!

Yeah Singapore noted for it's sparsely populated and inaccessible rural areas. Also South Korea (lovely people the Koreans, nuts but lovely) has an area of roughly 90,000 sq km compared to our 70,000 sq km or so, and we've a population of 4 million and they've got nearly 50 million, our pop density is 63 to their 493. That means for every 10 km of fibre they put down they've got a lot more people there to use it and make it cost effective.

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I've got friends who keeping getting leaflets in the door from Chorus saying broadband is available in their area and when they ring, they're told it's not. They live within spitting distance of the very centre of Limerick city. Many of the private broadband providers just plain lie about availability.

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Thanks for the votes - Dan Sullivan. I'll be back and then we can all have a vote.


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I agree with KK, these are shockingly vague and fuzzy points Eamon Ryan is making. The report is of very poor quality, because it comes from the government we are assuming it to be quality/authoritative.... if someone produced that report for me I'd send it back for complete reworking.

Who did produce the report ?
I think Communications needs to be taken away from Ryan, he's not suited for the role and this report/discussion document is an embarrassment:

That's what this report isn't !!!

cYp

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"Yawn , am I alive yet ?"

The big bone for me is that this was meant to be a plan, a plan has dates, it has costings, it has targets and actions to be taken if the targets are off. this has none of those things. The only number appears to be a steal from another announcement to do with the NDP.

__________________
Thanks for the votes - Dan Sullivan. I'll be back and then we can all have a vote.


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