Many years ago children used to play a game called “man in the middle”. It involved one “volunteer” standing in the middle of a group with a ball being passed backwards and forwards, side to side until eventually the person in the centre managed to catch the ball. The hapless thrower then took the role of man in the middle. These days there is a similar game being played, this time the players are adults, with regulators, government departments and multinational industries standing in a circle passing the broadband ball backwards and forwards as fast as possible while Irish consumers and lobby groups stand in the middle desperately trying to catch the ball. Ask officials at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources why broadband in Ireland is so slow to roll out and you will be immediately told “That’s a regulatory issue, talk to ComReg”. Ask ComReg what they are doing and be told “We only regulate, it’s the industry and DCMNR that have to do something”. Then turn to industry and ask the same question and be told “We are doing our very best but regulation and lack of government assistance is hampering us” Americans call this “passing the buck” and Ireland has some expert buck passers playing in the broadband rollout game.
The buck stops here
But fortunately for consumers Americans also have another expression called “The buck stops here”. The question is where does the buck stop in Ireland? Ultimately the buck stops with Minister Noel Dempsey from the DCMNR. His department is responsible for all aspects of communications in Ireland. Without strong committed leadership from Minister Dempsey the buck passing will continue indefinitely. While the rest of Europe continues to accelerate the rollout of broadband Ireland will continue to lag.
ComReg requires support from Minister Dempsey to aggressively regulate the market. Hearing the minister you report to is putting his hands in the air and saying “It’s nothing to do with me” doesn’t inspire aggressive “go get them” regulation. Telecoms industries need to know that they can’t obstruct progress in pursuit of profits without incurring the wrath of the Irish Government. And consumers need to know that the person elected, to work for them, is actually doing something.
Fortunately some changes are occurring that will improve our performance. In recent months ComReg has developed a stronger attitude towards wayward telecoms companies. Despite being threatened with legal action every time this regulatory body even considers making a change to regulatory practices, it appears it is willing to go the distance. Whether it gets the support from DCMNR remains to be seen.
Gradual roll out
The broadband rollout itself, while glacially slow is still getting there bit by bit, although arguments about the actual level of coverage will continue to rage for years. Just because a telephone line is connected to an exchange that has been enabled for broadband does not mean you can get broadband. Line quality, distance and other factors reduce the number of lines capable of carrying broadband by up to 20%.
Rural roll out
Sooner or later the broadband rollout will reach a point where it is economically unviable for any company to continue. Urban areas and smaller towns will have broadband but what of the more rural areas? It is assumed that up to 10% of the population live in areas where broadband rollout is not viable by private industry. So who will foot the bill to reach the final 10%? The taxpayer of course. But fortunately the money required is likely to be available without dipping further into the coffers. While the DCMNR’s Group Broadband scheme is bringing rural populations broadband, at current rates it will have not come anywhere close to spending its allocated funds by the time it draws to a close in 2007.
At best guess there will be approximately EUR*25million left over looking for a home. The DCMNR will in all likelihood issue a tender to telecoms companies to rollout the final 10% and given that Eircom currently own the network, exchanges and infrastructure it is highly unlikely that anyone else can put together a tender response to beat Eircom.
Net result, Eircom gets EUR*25 million, DCMNR can proudly announce near 100% coverage, ComReg stops being shouted at, consumers have broadband everywhere. Everyone’s a winner, right? Well not quite, firstly the above scenario is not likely to happen until at least 2008 and continue through to late 2009. Secondly the government has still had to spend large sums of money to bring about what should have happened naturally through competition and market forces. None of this addresses competition and equal access to the network in order to forestall monopolistic practises. Pricing and line rental means that even though everyone would have access to broadband not many could afford it. And when you ask any of the players “why?” you will be told “It’s nothing to do with us talk to …”
For more information visit: www.irelandoffline.org and post a comment on its discussion forum.
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