To read the text of my Broadband Infrastructure Bill 2008 in full, click here: bi-bill-2008.pdf. For a summary of the Bill, click here: memo.doc. I will present the Bill to the Seanad this Wednesday.
The government seems intent on setting up more talking shops, steering groups, and forums to ask questions about broadband. But we already have the answers! Minister Ryan will soon be announcing the formation of the National Advisory Forum, or NAF. This NAF idea is just another example of the failure of the government to ACT on this vital issue.
If my Broadband Infrastructure Bill is accepted, we will have targets for universal, high-speed and affordable broadband, and the necessary infrastructure for achieving these targets will be installed by a dedicated body with sweeping powers. Latest estimates put our communications infrastructure at seven to eight years behind our European neighbours.
This is something which is effecting the economy today. I am aware of one business in north Dublin which, because of connectivity problems, may be forced to close down with the loss of almost 20 jobs. Multinationals are “embarrassed” by the broadband “mess”, and could pull out with the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Please keep sending me your own thoughts and experiences: shane.ross@oireachtas.ie, and don’t forget to CC the Minister: eamon.ryan@oireachtas.ie.
estimates put our communications infrastructure at seven to eight years behind our European neighbors
I don’t think things are quite as bad as that - for example millions of UK users opt for the cheap broadband packages offered by telecoms giant BT - however very few actually get anything like the 8mb download speeds advertised.
It’s about time that the government got their heads out of the clouds and realised that coaxing and cajoling Eircom to upgrade their infrastructure has not, and never will work!
Why would they? They have had, untill recent years, a monopoly on our phone calls which is why they allowed the infrastructure to fall so far behind in the first place. They only had to provide a service which was good enough for a voice call…. and if it wasn’t, tough luck. They were the only game in town. Which anyone who has had a bad phone line in the past found out with an arogance from their staff that would not have been tolerated in any other business.
Now that they have competition, that is starting to change, but only starting. Of course they don’t want broadband for everyone!!! Firstly, you may not go with them as a provider, so they provide the infrastructure but without very much profit, and also, with the advent of broadband dependent internet phone services like Skype, they could also eventually loose much of their international call revenue.
In fact, things seem to be going backward. I live just outside Enniscorthy in Co. Wexford. 5 years ago, I finally managed to get a broadband connection. It was only 512 kbps but better than nothing and after all, the standard in London at the time was about 2mbps. I then moved to London 4 years ago and after a while cancelled my broadband connection over here since I wasn’t using it but kept the landline. Now I am in a position where I can work between both here and London but I can now no longer get a broadband connection. In fact, the phone line is so bad that I can’t even get a stable dialup connection. So, can someone tell me how things are improving??
When I called Eircom, they did the usual thing of sending me from department to department, hanging up on me, and saying that they only have to provide a voice service etc etc. Anyone who has gone a few rounds knows the situation. Their contract with the governemtn only requires them to provide a connection suitable for voice calls.
Well, in this day and age that is simply not good enough. The internet is now such a inegral part of our lives and work that broadband is not, as it seems to be viewed by the government,Eircom and the regulator, a luxury but a necessity in much the same way that the telephone was 30 years ago. Today, you wouldn’t expect a business to operate without a telephone so what makes the lack of access to the internet acceptable?
Eircom had had the best part of a decade to sort this out and every improvement has been done grudgingly, kicking and screaming about the expense involved. It’s about time the powers that be hit them with a big stick!
Either re-privatise the lines,exchanges etc and take it out of the hands of Eircom altogether or set up a new national broadband grid with future proof fibre optics in competition to Eircom and drag this country out of the stone age before we start loosing multinationals to countries that don’t have a third-world telecommunications system.