[Delphi91]

Article in Business section of todays Irish Independent:

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Kane defends Eircom stance on loop

Rebuttal to criticisms from EU, regulator's office and competing operators

OUTGOING Eircom chief executive Alfie Kane yesterday defended the incumbent's stance on the local loop and DSL access despite recent condemnation of the company by the European Commission, the regulator's office, and competing operators.

And the Government should pick up the tab for the roll-out of the national broad-band network to deal with a threat to our national competitiveness, the chief of the National Competitiveness Council warned yesterday.

Mr Kane, who is also president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, was speaking at that body's launch of "Recommendations for Dublin as a World Class eEntity". He said that the local loop is already unbundled and it is up to competitors to apply for access.

On DSL, he said: "Eircom should be encouraged to roll out this service at whatever price. The market will then determine its take-up."

Speaking after the launch of the National Competitiveness Council's annual report chairman Brian Patterson pointed out that the events of September 11 and the bursting of the technology bubble ensured that there was little appetite for investment in a national broadband network.

The Council wants to see a much quicker roll-out and is now recommending it be make available on a low-cost, open-access basis.

The lack of such an infrastructure meant Ireand is lagging behind its OECD counterparts - we are ranked a very poor 27th out of 30 countries for broadband penetration, Mr Patterson said.

This is a direct threat to our competitiveness, he said, and the Government should take action to deal with this.

Mr Patterson wants the Department of Public Enterprise to publish a strategy by the end of next March to accelerate the expansion of the broadband infrastructure.

And he insisted that even if it meant putting up the money, it should press ahead with the development.

"This is as important a piece of infrastructure as any major road," he warned, suggesting that if the Government gets the ball rolling the private sector may weigh in behind it.

However, neither the issue of the local loop, the last mile of Eircom's local copper telephone network, nor DSL access, one of the methods competitors can use to access the local loop, are in any way resolved here and are the subject of constant debate both at home and in Europe.

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce report confirmed that stumbling blocks in the selling of Dublin, and indeed Ireland, as an e-commerce hub include delays on both DSL, the local loop and broadband infrastructure.

"Dublin has fallen far behind most other European cities ... in terms of the availability and choice of key access technologies," according to the report. "There are still no DSL providers, let alone a choice of them, and nor are there viable wireless local loop providers."

At the moment, the Office of the Director of Telecommunications (ODTR) and Eircom are in a legal wrangle over the pricing of access to the local loop.

Eircom claims the interim price set by the ODTR of ?13.53 and a connection charge of ?119.73 are too low,and queries whether the ODTR had the authority to set the prices.

In terms of DSL, there are issues to be resolved over the wholesale prices Eircom wants to charge other operators for the services.

Ailish O'Hora and Pat Boyle

[SkepticOne]

And the Government should pick up the tab for the roll-out of the national broad-band network to deal with a threat to our national competitiveness, the chief of the National Competitiveness Council warned yesterday.

and

On DSL, he said: "Eircom should be encouraged to roll out this service at whatever price. The market will then determine its take-up."

Basically, Eircom wants to be paid to roll out ADSL and then it wants to be able to charge what it likes.

"The market will then determine its take-up." So if Eircom wants to charge a bomb for ADSL and impose stupid caps so that take up will be low and revenue from ISDN and PSTN will be protected, that's fine. Great stuff.

Mr Kane, who is also president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, was speaking at that body's launch of "Recommendations for Dublin as a World Class eEntity".

Note: there was no "launch" of any document today by the Dublin Chamber. The eEntity report mentioned will not be available until January. It is only in draft form at the moment and is not available for public view.

The only paper reporting this is the "Independent".

Looks like Kane is using his position as president of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce to deflect criticism away from Eircom for Ireland's appalling telecomms infrastructure which was highlighted in a report by the National Competitiveness Council.

<Edit: Fixed up some vbCode tags>

[neverhappen]

On DSL, he said: "Eircom should be encouraged to roll out this service at whatever price. The market will then determine its take-up."

Yeah. "Go on lads. Charge what you like. You've got the monopoly, we need it out there. We'll pay whatever you want."

F**k that.

Kane defends Eircom stance on loop

Rebuttal to criticisms from EU, regulator's office and competing operators

Sure Alfie. They're all wrong and you're right. Happy Christmas and goodbye.

*fume*

[-ADREN-]

Your telling me when ADSL comes out.. the ODTR have the right to set the prices and they are going to make it £13 per month.. but thats bloody class..

That is right tho yea?

[SkepticOne]

Originally posted by -ADREN-
Your telling me when ADSL comes out.. the ODTR have the right to set the prices and they are going to make it £13 per month.. but thats bloody class..
That is right tho yea?

The £13 per month refers to the charge Eircom must charge other licenced operators for access to Eircom's local loop under LLU. The final retail price charged by operators is not set by the ODTR.

[dahamsta]

Your telling me when ADSL comes out.. the ODTR have the right to set the prices and they are going to make it £13 per month.. but thats bloody class.. That is right tho yea?

Kind of, but not the way you think. The ODTR doesn't regulate retail pricing, i.e. the pricing to you and me; it regulates wholesale pricing, i.e. the pricing to OLO's (Other Licenced Operators). The retail price will /not/ be £13, either bitstream or unbundled. I sincerely doubt it will /ever/ be £13.

adam

[meglome]

Jesus that Kane guy really needs to take his head out of his arse.

Go on Eircon charge us what us like for your DSL monopoly we don't mind at all

Although hopefully the Government will pay for broadband.

[plum]

The €13 is for wholesale access to local loop unbundling, and has no relevance to the price of eircom's i-stream prices.

[dahamsta]

Jesus that Kane guy really needs to take his head out of his arse.

Oh, the stories I could tell if I still had my anonymity...

Although hopefully the Government will pay for broadband.

That will never happen, and there's no point in even discussing it. What should be discussed is some form of subsidisation at some level to encourage fast and efficient takeup. Because of Eircom's nauseating greed, Ireland is actually in a good position to demonstrate a paragon broadband setup, with realistic pricing and products and controlled, steady rollouts. If a balance can be drawn between the high-margin greed of Eircom, and the sheer folly of last years low-margin idiocy in the US, it could happen. Of course, as is being discussed in another thread, the EU has a part to play too; as does the Government, who needs to get off the fence on the Communications Bill and prove that they are no longer answerable to Eircom.

The €13 is for wholesale access to local loop unbundling, and has no relevance to the price of eircom's i-stream prices.

No relevance at all - zip, nada, squat. Much better summed up that the two IO committee members managed plum, thank you!

adam