comwreck

davej

Did a quick search and was surprised not to see this site mentioned (apologies if I missed it):

Press Release:

Eircomtribunal.com is dead.

Long live the new Commission for Communications Wreckulation!

Web site address: www.comwreck.com
If you have difficulties to enter the protected site, remember, it is
created from the perspective of Irish Communications Regulator John
Doherty, as a means of communicating with Communications Minister
Dermot Ahern.


davej

rymus

Hurrah, long live ComWreck!

Dangger

FANTASTICO FANTASTICO!

vinnyfitz

very artistic

But should we not give the guy a chance? - he has only been in the chair for 6 weeks.

Some of the indefensible he is defending was agreed ages ago.

Must say I like the critique of the directory enquiry guide.

dahamsta

But should we not give the guy a chance? - he has only been in the chair for 6 weeks.

It's worth remembering that he's been with ComReg a lot longer.

Some of the indefensible he is defending was agreed ages ago.

The majority of his comments on RTE came off as apologist for Eircom though, and some of the statements he made were typical of Etain Doyle. For example, he said that ComReg wouldn't allow Eircom to raise line rental over the rate of inflation for $n years, which is pol-speak for "there will be more increases, but this sounds like there won't". If anything, line rental should be forced down to the European average.

All that being said, yes, he should get a fair chance. Our patience wore thin a long time ago though, I fear another Doyle-like quarterly report could bury the man in the estimations of many. A little straightforwardness and agressiveness could do a lot to swing people the other way.

adam

Ripwave

Originally posted by dahamsta
[BThe majority of his comments on RTE came off as apologist for Eircom though, and some of the statements he made were typical of Etain Doyle. [/B]

Actually, at the start of the program, the comments were almost typical of McRedmond. But to his credit, it was Doherty that pointed out that you don't have to bring your old phone back to an eircom shop to stop paying "comfort rental". Oreillycom delivered it to your house when you first got your phoneline, and, if they want it back, they can come and collect it.

Just call 1901 and tell them that you don't want it any more, and they have to stop billing you fir it.

SkepticOne

Comwreck got a mention in today's Irish Times business section in the Current Account column on page 5.

It has been a baptism of fire for the new chairman of the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), John Doherty, in the first few weeks of his tenure.

Eircom's decision to hike line rental for the third time in a year should have been seen coming by the State's first regulatory watchdog. And the monopoly's price hike in the cost of its pensioner's scheme rubbed further salt into the wounds of ComReg.

The impression that the regulator had its "eye off the ball", so eloquently voiced by Joe Duffy on RTE radio, will not have gone unnoticed by the politicos in Fianna Fail and the PDs, who are responsible for flogging the State's telecoms infrastructure.

It was perhaps ironic that the Governments new white paper on better regulation was published this week and raised the question of merging regulators. But the idea - already a reality in Britain with OFCOM - may well be considered by the "chattering classes" in Leinster House now.

And Mr Doherty's month isn't getting any better with the news that a website lampooning "Com-wreck" is up an runing.

The site can be viewed at: www.comwreck.com/doherty.html . But be quick. Rumour has it that the new communications czar may move to shut it down!

davej

Some more info from an email..

davej

Press Release/Background information

The American vulture capitalist owners of Eircom are tightening the
screws on Paddy even further. Cranking up line rental pricing to EUR
24.18 per month, a 25% increase within one year to Europe's highest, is
the kiss of death to any meaningful competition to Ireland's de-facto
monopoly Telecom.
After asset stripping the company, savagely cutting back on essential
infra-structural investment, taking a loot of half a billion euros out
in dividends and loading the investors' debts onto the company, Eircom
- by now degraded to a UK shell company - will be sold off shortly on
the stock-market, for the next group of fat cats to take their bite.
Thievery and destruction of public utility assets, hitherto at this
level only experienced by developing countries, is happening right
before our eyes.

All this could only happen, because too many screws are loose in the
heads of the Irish Communications regulators. They have spectacularly
failed to curtail Eircom's monopolistic anticompetitive strangle-hold
on the market; in parts they have aided and abetted this development,
deliberately or unintentionally; if they lacked powers, they have at
least failed to cry stop.
They have continuously, deliberately and skilfully misinformed the
Irish public, the Irish media and the Irish politicians about the real
state of affairs in the areas of Internet access and Internet usage.
Under the direction of its regulatory regime Ireland has not only got
Europe's highest line rental, but also Europe's highest dsl whole sale
pricing (EUR 27/month, back-haul not included); Ireland ranks at the
low end when it comes to dsl availability (below 50% of lines), dsl
uptake (only recently reached 1%), Internet penetration (34%) and real
actual home Internet usage (17%) [1].

With www.ComWreck.com you can get inside the head of the new Irish
Communications Wreckulator. His views, delivered in his sarcastic,
humorous blogs are frank and revealing, but always factual.
From now on the public eye will be on Europe's most over-funded and
mostly underachieving regulator, the Irish "Commission for
Communications Regulation" (ComReg).

If you like ComWreck.com, please recommend the site to friends,
collegues, journalists and TDs.
Feel free to use material from ComWreck.com in other publications, as
long a reference to the source is given.
If you need higher resolution files of images for print purposes, email
us on johndoherty@comwreck.com.



Regards

The crew of the "Commission for Communications Wreckulation"




[1] Typically ComReg published the results of their own last 2003
survey, which show the meaningful (as in: adults who use the Internet
from home at least more than once a week) percentage of Irish Home
Internet users to be at a mere 17 % (for comparison: Switzerland: 45%),
as follows: "Irish Home Internet penetration rose by 5% to 44% in the
last Quarter", using manipulative statistical trickery, correctly
assuming none of the journalists reporting the story would question
their misleading summary.