eircom have NBS

Sponge Bob

In fact they have had it since the spring but have been dragging the knock kneed Dept of Communications backwards through hedges ever since .

Some of it will be DSL, quite possibly half of it . All but 100 exchanges will be done as I understand it and a few fibred cabs will be thrown in here and there .

Some will be 3G .

Some will be Fixed Wireless

At least 8% are envisaged as satellite installs as Ryan admitted in the Dáil last week

A special eircom team started the DSL deployment planning in the spring and are quite advanced with some exchanges even going live in H2 2009 .

The DCENR is haggling over 4 things for the past 3 months

1. Ca$hi$h
2. Whether the NBS 'customer service' and website is a separate project to be funded by the DCENR largely by recoding http://broadband.gov.ie/ a bit and hiring some call centre people themselves as eircom do not want to deal with it and do not feel they have to.
3. Timing of Completion , eircom want 2012 and Ryan 2010 so that probably means end 2011 then
4. The extent of satellite in the whole project . Officially 8% to allow for line failures but it may be less not more . They are allowed 8% though .

And yes eircom are sure they have it as a spokesperson of theirs told the Kerryman during the summer .

Of the 27 communication exchanges in the north Kerry and west Limerick constituency only 11 are broadband enabled - these 11 providing only 74 per cent of all working phone lines in the area with broadband. While



Eircom say they hope to enable a further nine exchanges in the constituency, many businesses in the area argue that they are failing to reach their full potential without the service.


Nine phone exchanges are currently enabled in north Kerry - Tralee, Listowel, Tarbert, Ballyheigue, Ardfert, Ballymac, Abbeydorney, Lixnaw and Killerisk - with only Glin and Abbeyfeale enabled in west Limerick.



But by the end of 2009, Eircom say they will have nine more exchanges enabled across the new constituency - Ballybunion, Dromartin Cross, Knocknagoshel, Moyvane, Ballylongford, Fenit and Mounthawk in north Kerry and Athea and Templeglantine in west Limerick.


Seven exchanges remain: Asdee, Finuge, Brosna, Lyreacrompane and Lisselton in north Kerry and Castlemahon and Tournafulla in west Limerick.
Eircom say these seven will be covered by the National Broadband Scheme and will eventually receive the service.

mike76

To be fair it wasn't that long ago I was reading "NBS is gone" with impeccible sources saying that budget cuts meant it could'nt go ahead so I think I'll wait for the govt announcement

Sponge Bob

It was gone from the 2008 budget quite early on so Ryan announced q2 then q3 and now it is q4 and still no deal . Nevertheless 3 have been out of it for a long long time now .

Other cabinet ministers saved it , Ryan was quite happy to blow the money on pellets and let it go .

I was not wrong in June was I :cool:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055306977

It was saved when the government agreed to satellite !

smellslikeshoes

Was never any doubt in my eyes that Eircom would be given it eventually, from the start they have been in the best position to provide it. What does irritate me is the obscene amount of time it has taken and I can imagine there being another few months of fecking around before there is an official announcement.

Thankfully it wasn't 3 anyway, thats the important part.

phog

smellslikeshoes wrote: »

Was never any doubt in my eyes that Eircom would be given it eventually, from the start they have been in the best position to provide it. What does irritate me is the obscene amount of time it has taken and I can imagine there being another few months of fecking around before there is an official announcement.

Thankfully it wasn't 3 anyway, thats the important part.

Why? What's wrong with them?

SkepticOne

Well done Eircom. They have been campaigning for such a scheme for many years.

In the short term it will benefit people in Rural areas. In the long term it will stifle competition and help extend and consolidate Eircom's monopoly in those areas.

I would have preferred a scheme that encouraged local competition to Eircom but Eircom would have lobbied strongly against this.

oscarBravo

SkepticOne wrote: »

I would have preferred a scheme that encouraged local competition to Eircom ...

But then the "National Broadband Scheme" wouldn't have been the most appropriate name for it. You could call it something else... maybe "Group Broadband Scheme" - yeah, that'd cover it.

SkepticOne

oscarBravo wrote: »

But then the "National Broadband Scheme" wouldn't have been the most appropriate name for it. You could call it something else... maybe "Group Broadband Scheme" - yeah, that'd cover it.

I think some aspects of that scheme should have been retained.

A regional broadband scheme could have been developed from it. The idea of having one company looking after all the marginal areas, a company already with a monopoly over fixed line communications in those areas does not make a huge amount of sense and may end up being political suicide for whoever is communications minister when it goes ahead.

damien

From the tinfoil hat that brought us the "NBS has been canceled", now we have the NBS is alive and well and has been given to eircom and well before the announcement it was canceled... So were you making it up when you said the NBS was canceled or making it up now or perhaps even both?

If eircom got it already you can be sure than it would have leaked out and Three would have visited a lawyer. How many planning applications have gone in from eircom for the NBS to be enabled exchanges and for the masts for 3G?

Good educated guesstimates though.

Firetrap

phog wrote: »

Why? What's wrong with them?

This - 368 (and counting) pages of unhappy customers on a thread running since July 2007.

Time will tell how the NBS works out. Good to see it hasn't been totally ditched, though it's got many flaws.

Sponge Bob

damien wrote: »

From the tinfoil hat that brought us the "NBS has been canceled", now we have the NBS is alive and well and has been given to eircom and well before the announcement it was canceled... So were you making it up when you said the NBS was canceled or making it up now or perhaps even both?

The cost envisaged then was too high. It was not going ahead at that price.

Instructively Ryan has less money in 2009 for both capital and for current spending if you look at those line items in the estimates. The NBS is essentially at the whim of cabinet as a 'special project' now . If a contract is agreed and signed it will apparently go ahead. Local elections are due next year as you may know :cool:

Finance had presented a menu of 'his' cutbacks to Ryan in June but NBS somehow got back on the agenda again, quite possibly through the actions of other cabinet members. The overall impact of the cutbacks was watered down to -3% in september . Finance wanted at least 10% originally.

eircom were then told in the summer to reduce the price of the scheme and the satellite concession of 8% was the key fudge that got it into fundable territory .

If a contract is not signed by January it is possibly because NBS is destined for the chop in the next emergency budget due in Feb/March .

A narrow window is now open for the acceptance of tender ( final tenders came in this week) and signature of contract .

If eircom got it already you can be sure than it would have leaked out and Three would have visited a lawyer.

I suspect not somehow , in case 3 visited a lawyer

How many planning applications have gone in from eircom for the NBS to be enabled exchanges and for the masts for 3G?

You do not need planning permission for internal works in exchange or for a lot of street cabinet work .

You do for masts but eircom has been busy disguising its mast applications all year , I mentioned how HERE back in March :cool:

cgarvey

Sponge Bob wrote: »

I suspect not somehow , in case 3 visited a lawyer

So eircom don't have the NBS then, right? You just suspect they do have it all but officially based on whatever connections you have?

PogMoThoin

Is there any fact in this, or is it just speculation?

smellslikeshoes

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Is there any fact in this, or is it just speculation?

Joining the dots is probably the most accurate way of describing it.

clohamon

I doubt it Sponge Bob.

1. The exchange areas may not even be in the NBS.
2. As a DCENR negotiating tactic, its insane.
3. The final tender invitations weren't issued till 25th August.
4. No Civil Servant worth the name would wear it.
5. The EU wouldn't wear it.
6. Its totally contrary to the Minister's publicly stated strategy; i.e. to encourage Eircom by encouraging the competition to Eircom.

*Speculation*
It would suit Eircom to raise everybody's expectation of universal DSL and try and bounce the government, or at least to spoil 3's plans for a while by suggesting that DSL was imminent everywhere.

Eircom may have bargained for a stay on competition in the un-enabled exchange areas in return for not contesting the result of the NBS; I doubt they have anything else in the bag.

mike76

irrespective of who wins, any idea when this will be announced?

clohamon

mike76 wrote: »

irrespective of who wins, any idea when this will be announced?

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/DDebate.aspx?F=DAL20081113.XML&Node=H11-177&Page=33

There are still some parts of the country where the private sector will be unable to justify the commercial provision of broadband services. Accordingly, the procurement process for a National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is nearing completion. The NBS is designed to deliver broadband to areas where the market has failed to provide services. Two bids, from Eircom Limited and Hutchinson 3G Ireland, have been received in response to the NBS invitation to tender and are being evaluated. The preferred bidder is expected to be appointed shortly and the contract is expected to be signed this month.

Subject to agreement with the chosen service provider, rollout of services is expected to begin shortly after the contract is signed. The chosen service provider will be required to complete the roll out of services within 22 months of the contract award. All requests for a broadband service in the areas to be addressed by the NBS including any unserved areas in the South East region will be met.

So that looks like this month: November

But check out all the underlined stuff. They haven't actually committed themselves to anything.

square.pants

Overheard at match last night. Two suits talking that 3 have it in the bag. - Seemed to know what they were talking about.


Anybody else hear anything along these lines? - I hope its not 3 as we need to get something that works.

I'm typing this from a internet cafe that uses eircom and it works. - Can't even get three mobile service.....

mike76

I have an awful feeling that they might do. E Ryan is always talking about the wireless society and the morons in Com reg who are probably running this did give Smart a 3g license - wonder did anyone get fired for that?

Off course there is nothing wrong with wireless WHEN IT WORKS!!!!!! 3 are a joke in Ireland so unless they transplant their entire UK team over then it will be another disaster.

If they do go with them and they don't do it properly then the officials should be made to resign. They and Com reg have failed this country again and again.

PS sponge bob - if they do, no more posts, ever.

watty

eircom / meteor has the 3G licence. Smart never really got it.


Mobile is a special species of Wireless designed for MOBILITY, not Internet / Broadband. There are many quite good Wireless systems.

cgarvey

square.pants wrote: »

Overheard at match last night. Two suits talking that 3 have it in the bag. - Seemed to know what they were talking about.


Anybody else hear anything along these lines? - I hope its not 3 as we need to get something that works.

I'm typing this from a internet cafe that uses eircom and it works. - Can't even get three mobile service.....

I don't believe you!

BendiBus

cgarvey wrote: »

I don't believe you!

I believe him!

cgarvey

Sadly it's true .. but what I meant was an expression of disbelief, rather than a statement of mistrust (even if he has/had just 1 post).

Sadly, I'd heard the same from a couple of source before this thread started at all. I would have much preferred if Sponge Bob had been right, rather than his alter ego square pants. Alas, I was silly to get my hopes up of that happening

Sponge Bob

It was nearly purely scored on Price then , eircom was double the cost of 3 . They won every other scoring category

mike76

so did the other categories count for nothing? didn't eircom know that price was worth the most %?

cgarvey

Am locking this thread .. the speculation has been proved wrong, so let's keep the 3 discssion on the other thread.