DEVELOPMENT: Plans to link new Government-funded projects with existinginfrastructure are understood to have top-level backing, writes KarlinLillington
A State-wide, open-access broadband network that would bring high-speed internet access to the regions and force down prices steeply could be in place within two years.
Plans to link several new Government-funded broadband projects with existing public and private infrastructure are understood to have backing at top levels of Government.
Under the plan, the State will knit together new publicly owned local and regional network projects with the planned Atlantic Broadband Corridor (ABC), a fibre network to run from Tralee to Derry.
With a completion date of the final quarter of 2003, the ABC and a new round of regional and local projects will receive €47 million (£37 million) in State funding.
A Department of Public Enterprise spokesman said 31 proposals for local broadband infrastructure projects are currently being studied.
The department is encouraging towns to create locally owned public access networks - where the build-out is publicly funded and managed, enabling any company to compete to offer services over the network. These networks would be connected in turn to other national networks.
It is understood that fibre networks held by semi-state agencies are being eyed for the project. Several agencies have built out such systems, including Bord Gáis, the ESB and CIÉ - whose unfinished railway signalling network is actually a high-capacity, fibre optic, broadband network.
According to senior Government and industry sources, significant pressure is building across Government to resolve the broadband issue. Several recent reports - including studies from Forfás, the National Competitiveness Council, IBEC and the Dublin Chamber of Commerce - warn that the Republic's economic and social health and ability to compete will be seriously threatened unless new networks are installed, existing fibre is utilised, access prices are chopped and new services introduced.
"If we don't have an infrastructure that's second to none, we are really in trouble," said Mr Seamus Mulconry, e-business analyst with Accenture.
"Ireland should aim to have the best in Europe. Legislation and regulation are also crucial."
While the Republic is now recognised as a top location for cheap international broadband access for corporates - ranked second among OECD nations - it is also at the bottom of the table for national broadband access.
"In terms of access to broadband infrastructure, Ireland comes out very poorly," said Ms Isolde Goggin, director of the regulated markets division of the National Competition Authority.
The OECD recently placed it 27th of 30 countries for its national broadband infrastructure.
A key problem is not simply a lack of fibre networks within the State but the fact that existing networks are either unused - so- called "dark fibre" that remains unlit - or access to capacity and services is offered at some of the highest prices in Europe.
"The telcos are competing on infrastructure \the costly process of getting networks built\, not on services, so there's fibre but no services because they charge so much for leased lines," said one senior industry observer.
"There's a lack of effective competition."
Eircom and BT/Esat, which own the majority of lit and dark fibre in the State, have said repeatedly that they charge what they believe are competitive prices for leased lines.
According to another senior industry figure: "Eircom and Esat are sitting on a significant amount of dark fibre."
He suggested that the telecoms regulator should consider unbundling dark fibre, forcing the two companies to place it on the market.
Another industry figure suggests taxing dark fibre to encourage operators to put it to work.
Other factors compound the broadband dilemma. The State has the worst record in Europe on unbundling the local loop, or opening up to competition the copper wire networks that run directly to businesses and consumers. In addition, a legal dispute between Eircom and the telecommunications regulator, Ms Etain Doyle, over the cost at which Eircom should offer its wholesale digital subscriber line (DSL) product - a broadband access technology targeted at homes and small businesses - means the State is the only EU country with no commercial DSL offering.
While the State's range of telecommunication companies regularly blame each other for holding back the rollout of services such as DSL, many close to the industry believe it suits them to argue rather than offer services for markets which are young and uncertain.
"There's a conspiracy of mutual finger-pointing," said one senior figure.
For example, although several telecommunications companies have complained about the slow pace of Eircom's unbundling of its local loops, analysts said only BT/Esat would be a likely customer to purchase access to those loops. The two companies recently agreed to unbundle one loop for Esat's use in Limerick.
Several of the recent reports present a case for creating a new ministry to cover telecommunications, rather than having it folded into the Department of Public Enterprise's (DPE's) already large brief. The Dublin Chamber of Commerce report, overseen by Iona founder and chairman Dr Chris Horn, suggests that a minister for e-commerce would oversee the broad e-business and e-society area, but would leave departments more or less as they are.
The Taoiseach's Department has already convened a cross-departmental telecommunications advisory body of senior civil servants. This group is understood to be keeping a close eye on policy emerging from DPE, and to be examining ways of driving broadband policy forward as swiftly as possible.
Overall, the broadband issue, which only gained steam at the end of 2001, is likely to remain high on the agenda this year.
