Broadband and lack of...

[Ronanr]

...Aside from being incredibly anti competitive, its against State Aids rules, and the Gov had enough problems getting the MANs past the EU......
.....If it was economically viable to do so, a provider would be providing you with a service.

So on the one hand, adamirer, you are saying that it would be anti-competitive for the government to provide the service, but on the other, you are insinuating that it would be not economically viable for private sector companies to provide it, and tough luck if that is the case.

But how can it be anti-competitive for the government to step in to provide a service to an area where it is not viable for the private sector to do so?

How can the government do anything "anti-competitive " in a market where, by definition, a market cannot exist?



(now, you can have a discussion about whether it is a good idea for the government to spend money bringing broadband to every townland in Donegal in terms of public spending priorities, but it would hardly be anti-competitive...)

[123]

I live in an area where broadband is not availible. It is reasonalby rural area with population of about 600. Broadband is availible in a nearby village with a population of 400 and another with only 200 in it. Local business have closed down because of this issue. There are currently no plans to give the area broadband. Minister for cock ups Eamon Ryan used his green intuition to award the contract for broadband to 3. This means that towards the end of next year an extreamly poor quality moible broadband service should be availible there. 3's service is frightening.

Three Mobile Broadband -THE PROBLEMS M-M-MEGATHREAD! - boards.ie

They are in capable of the task which was delivered to them. I am luck. As my house is on hill from the 3rd floor a low quality, inconsistent, ocassionly useable 3G service is availible. When I contacted eircom about getting the local exchange upgraded their responce was:

Dear Mr. xxxx,

Thank you for your recent enquiry to Home | eircom Broadband.

Bringing broadband to all parts of Ireland including more remote areas
is a priority for eircom. In April 2007 we announced a programme to
extend broadband as far as economically possible throughout the country.
Unfortunately we have no current plans to upgrade the xxxxx
exchange, as it is uneconomical for eircom or any other operators in the
market to do so.

The xxxxx exchange may however be covered by the National Broadband
Scheme, the tender for which has been awarded to 3 Ireland. 3 Ireland or
the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources will be
able to advise you further in this regard.

Alternatively, you might consider a satellite broadband service which
does provide universal coverage but which tends to be more expensive
than other solutions. eircom is exploring new satellite options that
may be more cost effective, and we hope to make progression on this
issue in the coming months. Customers can contact our satellite
customer team at fwapacketandsatellite@eircom.ie or freephone 1800 503
303 if they would like to pursue this option.

Kind regards,

The BroadbandAtoZ Team

This made my blood boil. The benefits Ireland would get from a high speed, comprehensieve network are beond words. However this is yet another major failing of this government. Their failure to do so will severly harm future generations. Fianna Fail have failed us again, now we must live with the consequences.