Communications minister Eamon Ryan on Thursday unveiled the Government's policy on next-generation broadband, which outlined key broadband targets and the financial investment the Government is to make. Minister Ryan said EUR435 million has been earmarked as part of the National Development Plan 2007-2013 to plough into making broadband available nationwide.
"We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of people availing of broadband in this country. We now have over 1 million broadband subscribers in Ireland. We have been catching up but we cannot stand still. Technology is advancing rapidly and will enable far greater convergence between traditional forms of mobile and fixed communications at higher speeds. The purpose of this paper is to place Ireland in pole position to avail of the opportunities of the new internet economy," said Minister Ryan.
In all, the minister outlined 10 government commitments to boosting the broadband market in Ireland, including the target of providing broadband for all by the beginning of 2010. In order to meet this somewhat ambitious target, Minister Ryan has a few plans up his sleeve. All major infrastructure works, such as the building of new motorways or railways, will be required to install ducting at the construction phase. This eliminates the cost and inconvenience further down the line of having to dig up the roads to install ducting.
Liam O'Halloran, chairman of ALTO (the alternative operators organisation), who broadly welcomed the overall plan, told ENN he thinks this is a great idea that displays an element of forethought that hasn't been too evident in previous plans. He also praised the idea that the Government is to establish a one-stop shop to provide service providers with open access to existing and future ducting infrastructure.
The National Broadband Scheme, which is to begin shortly, will also have a large part to play in achieving universal broadband access. The minister has said the scheme will ensure that "all requests" for broadband will be met in areas currently without access to a broadband service.
As well as ensuring the availability of broadband, the minister has also set a target to achieve faster broadband speeds. He pledged that by 2012 our broadband speeds would equal or exceed those in "comparator EU regions".
Another commitment which demonstrates forward thinking is the requirement for all new premises to install open access fibre connections. O'Halloran indicated that he was looking forward to having a discussion with the Department of Communications about this particular plan, which he also praised as a positive investment in the future.
Elsewhere, the minister also pledged to provide a 100Mbps broadband connection to every second level school in the country. No indication has been given as to a target date for this part of the plan, although the minister did say this would be rolled out on a phased basis.
By and large the Government plan has been welcomed within the industry. Telecoms operator Perlico called it "encouraging", while Smart Telecom said the plan was to be "applauded". For its part Chambers Ireland said it would "open up the digital marketplace to even more businesses across Ireland".
Fine Gael, however, has played down the plan, calling it a "rehash" of proposals its party had made in February. "I was hoping to be in a position to welcome a series of ambitious and concrete steps that will bring about a turnaround in Ireland's poor broadband performance to date. What we have instead is a rehash of a series of Fine Gael proposals that the Minister opposed in February, but with no firm commitments on dates or funding, and a further consultation period until at least October before any concrete action is taken," said Fine Gael's Communications spokesperson, Simon Coveney.
O'Halloran, on the other hand, called the plan a "step forward" and said that it shows the Government is open to listening to the relevant parties in improving the broadband market.
It's clear that to achieve these targets the funding that's been earmarked, EUR435 million, needs to remain unchanged. In this current climate of belt tightening there have been murmurings from Taoiseach Brian Cowen that funds may be shaved off the National Development Plan in the next budget. If he is to really make a difference to the broadband market, Minister Ryan needs to make sure the portion allocated to broadband development remains untouched.
A public forum on the Government's broadband proposals, which will include consumer groups and industry, will meet in September.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Deirdre McArdle
Quelle/Source: ElectricNews, 03.07.2008
