Oireachtas Comms Committee fires up the grill on Wedn

damien

I never got my invite but it seems on Wednesday that Noel O'Flynn and his Communications committee will be quizing eircom, ComReg and possibly Dempsey about broadband in Ireland and perhaps they'll ask them those questions that they put in the Oireachtas report. Anyone want to go along with their popcorn to see it?

Sponge Bob

damien.m wrote:

ComReg and about broadband in Ireland and perhaps they'll ask them those questions that they put in the Oireachtas report.

The questions, strictly speaking, are for Dempsey. They may get a (very) longwinded party political statement from Dempsey as he tries to waste time but no answers as we know them Jim.

Comreg should be asked stuff like

"How Long Must You Stay Underwater To Make Sure All Your Fleas Have Swum Off "

Is it:

10 Mins
20 Mins

or

Don't come up !

Sponge Bob

Meanwhile Comreg are off to a top level global guru regulatory conference here next thursday .

damien

Who: Communications, Marine and Natural Resources Committee
Where and when: CR2, LH2000 (Leinster House) 10.00 a.m. Wedn 14th of June

What: Review of Joint Committee’s two reports on Broadband

Starring:
Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources,
Secretary General, DCMNR
Eircom
Smart Telecom
BT Ireland
eNet
ComReg

Tune in online here: http://www.oir.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=%2Fdocuments%2Flivewebcast%2FWeb%2DLive%2Ehtm&CatID=116&m=o

It may also be on TG4

If you want to go in person then you need to get an invite from your local TD or Senator or email the Clerk of the Oireachtas Committee

jwt

http://www.breakingnews.ie/2006/06/14/story263321.html

Less than one per cent of Government business carried out on the internet makes use of the State-owned broadband infrastructure, it emerged today.

Despite some €120m of taxpayers’ money being spent to date on the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) – a nationwide web of internet hubs to bring broadband to the regions – the Government still uses Eircom for 90% of its online activity.

A private company, e-net, which won a tender to manage the regional network, was asked by the committee if it had approached Government departments about using the 27 MANs.

Conal Henry, chief executive officer of the Limerick-based firm, said they had made some contact with the Department of Finance and would welcome more use of the State-owned system by the Government.

Mr Henry said that problems remained in the roll-out of broadband and urged more Government investment.

John

viking

Sound clip of the Oireachtas Report programme which was broadcast on Wednesday night:

http://rapidshare.de/files/23223559/oireachtas_report_16khz.mp3

(1.6MB)

SeaSide

so comreg are going to hold an investigation as to whose numbers are right.

That give me such a warm feeling

eircomtribunal

Maxim Kelly's reporting on ENN about the grill party:

TDs bemoan state of broadband
Friday, June 16 2006
by Maxim Kelly
The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications was convened on Wednesday to assess the roll-out of broadband in Ireland.

TDs bemoan state of broadband

The committee called several witnesses, including the communications minister Noel Dempsey, the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), the senior management team of incumbent telecoms company Eircom, and several other telcos.

The main issues under discussion were the impasse over Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) and usage of State-subsidised Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs).

Industry regulation was also a common theme throughout the day. Minister Dempsey said the communications miscellaneous provisions bill, which will boost ComReg's powers, was in the hands of the parliamentary counsel and he expects it will be finalised through the Dail "this side of the summer." If not, he said it would be within the first few weeks of the next Dail session.

Overall the minister declared himself dissatisfied with the slow roll-out of broadband. "I've never expressed myself happy with broadband roll-out and will not until it reaches 100 percent availability. There has been significant progress and there has been negatives, but it's important to be balanced -- some comments have been particularly unbalanced," he said.

The minister claimed broadband take-up had tripled since he took office and said that he had challenged the industry to reach 500,000, but the target now was set at 400,000 by the end of 2006. In answer to a question from Bernard Durkan (Fine Gael) the minister said that the former state telecommunications network owner Eircom had spent an estimated EUR250 million in capital investment since March 2005.

Between March 1999 and March 2005 Eircom had spent, in total, EUR2.31 billion on its network. Since 2003 the average figure has been around EUR200 million per year, according to an Eircom spokesperson, who verified these figures with ENN. Eircom said it invested a further EUR40 million in its mobile phone network between March 2005 and March of this year.

In spite of this investment, Labour's Tommy Broughan said the situation where operators could not get their products to customers because of Eircom's lack of activity was "deplorable and depressing". He reminded Minister Dempsey of comments his predecessor, Dermot Ahern, made about there being a "market failure" and asked why the minister had not introduced a bill to strengthen ComReg's powers when he first came into the Dail as minister for communications.

"You have been dilatory in not taking the bull by the horns and giving significant powers to ComReg," he charged. "Will the PAC [Public Accounts Committee] say DCMNR has failed on lots of issues, particularly broadband? Spending EUR120 million on the MANs was pursuing a white elephant when you should have gone after the regulatory issue," he said.

The minister responded that it depends on whether one looks at the glass being half empty or half full. He said he was constrained by the law and the Constitution, and market problems were not simply remedied "by a stroke of the minister's pen". He said ComReg had to operate within the limits of the law and, and had always endeavoured to go to the limits of the law.

"There wasn't a lot happening when Dermot Ahern said 'market failure'. We've announced MANs, Group Broadband Schemes (GBS) and -- in conjunction with industry -- Broadband for Schools. Each has been rolled out, each has made a difference," the minister said.

Earlier in the day e-Net, the company which runs the MANs, had received a grilling from the committee. It emerged that despite investing EUR120 million in the MANs, the State still relied on Eircom for 90 percent of its online activity, and that e-Net was barely making enough money to justify the State investment.

Minister Dempsey said e-Net had never been expected to make a profit in the first few years. He said it was "a nonsense" to say the MANs were a duplicate system and explained that the Government would never have gone down the path of investing in them if the private sector hadn't provided the infrastructure.

Deputy Eamon Ryan of the Green Party likened the MANs investment to the PPARS and e-voting machine scandals because the Government had invested millions but they only made a turnover of EUR3 million a year.

Throughout the day there was a growing realisation among committee members that the broadband issue was more than just a technology matter, but rather a wider political and economic issue.

Other topics discussed on the day included the line quality, the Broadband for Schools initiative and PC penetration.

P.