Second meeting of NGN Broadband Task Force today

bealtine

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/item/23529-second-meeting-of-ngn/

The Next Generation Broadband Task Force chaired by the Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte, TD, will convene today for the second time since it was established in June.

The taskforce, which Rabbitte set up earlier this summer, aims to have achieved its work by March 2012.

It aims to work to an EU target of 30Mbps for all citizens and 100Mbps for 50pc of Irish citizens.

The meeting today will focus on the following issues:

· a review of existing spectrum policy;

· the role of consumers and businesses in driving demand;

· planning and development challenges and

· the identification of appropriate and deliverable targets for high-speed broadband penetration.

Rabbitte said the taskforce has worked 'intensively' over the summer on a range of issues and welcomed recent fibre rollout decisions by UPC and Eircom.

“These developments are welcome, particularly in the context of the Government's commitment to drive bigger broadband to more places, as soon as possible,” Rabbitte said in a statement.
Will the taskforce achieve its objectives?

The key to deploying broadband, especially fibre of the next-generation variety, lies with investor certainty. Management teams of overseas telecoms firms, in particular, will not rubberstamp investment decisions until regulatory doubts have been set aside.

This means that Ireland’s forthcoming wireless spectrum auctions must roll out on time, and agreements over the structures through which rival telecoms firms will co-invest and compete over the same infrastructure will be critical.

Until these doubts are exorcised, the ability of telecoms companies to invest satisfactorily in next-generation infrastructure going forward will be debatabThe Next Generation Broadband Task Force chaired by the Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte, TD, will convene today for the second time since it was established in June.

The taskforce, which Rabbitte set up earlier this summer, aims to have achieved its work by March 2012.

It aims to work to an EU target of 30Mbps for all citizens and 100Mbps for 50pc of Irish citizens.

The meeting today will focus on the following issues:

· a review of existing spectrum policy;

· the role of consumers and businesses in driving demand;

· planning and development challenges and

· the identification of appropriate and deliverable targets for high-speed broadband penetration.

Rabbitte said the taskforce has worked 'intensively' over the summer on a range of issues and welcomed recent fibre rollout decisions by UPC and Eircom.

“These developments are welcome, particularly in the context of the Government's commitment to drive bigger broadband to more places, as soon as possible,” Rabbitte said in a statement.
Will the taskforce achieve its objectives?

The key to deploying broadband, especially fibre of the next-generation variety, lies with investor certainty. Management teams of overseas telecoms firms, in particular, will not rubberstamp investment decisions until regulatory doubts have been set aside.

This means that Ireland’s forthcoming wireless spectrum auctions must roll out on time, and agreements over the structures through which rival telecoms firms will co-invest and compete over the same infrastructure will be critical.

Until these doubts are exorcised, the ability of telecoms companies to invest satisfactorily in next-generation infrastructure going forward will be debatab

watty

The Wireless auctions as envisaged do ZERO for Broadband. They are about Mobile. Which will never deliver consistent current Broadband speeds, never mind NGB speeds.

Eircom have made no serious fibre rollout decision.

UPC are doing no more than upgrading their cable network so they can sell VOD (Video on Demand).

So basically nothing has been achieved and nothing will be until there is a change of attitude in civil service and Leadership from Government.

Satellite or LTE are not going to save you Mr. Rabbitte. You need to show bold leadership and make real decisions.

thegills

eircom announced FTTH to Wexford, Sandyford and Letterkenny so they may claim that we are heading in the right direction.

watty

Read fine print of what eircom are doing.

bealtine

thegills wrote: »

eircom announced FTTH to Wexford, Sandyford and Letterkenny so they may claim that we are heading in the right direction.

It's FTTC in Sandyford and Letterkenny not FTTH

funnyname

watty wrote: »

The Wireless auctions as envisaged do ZERO for Broadband. They are about Mobile. Which will never deliver consistent current Broadband speeds, never mind NGB speeds.

Eircom have made no serious fibre rollout decision.

UPC are doing no more than upgrading their cable network so they can sell VOD (Video on Demand).

So basically nothing has been achieved and nothing will be until there is a change of attitude in civil service and Leadership from Government.

Satellite or LTE are not going to save you Mr. Rabbitte. You need to show bold leadership and make real decisions.

Lots of people here on boards understand the issues but are these being communicated to the minister and his department?

bealtine

funnyname wrote: »

Lots of people here on boards understand the issues but are these being communicated to the minister and his department?

Yes a number of times, however they (the civil servants) just ignore the issues and march on with whatever they have decided

funnyname

bealtine wrote: »

Yes a number of times, however they (the civil servants) just ignore the issues and march on with whatever they have decided

What about getting direct access to the minister, surely an hour with him would get him on the right track, he seems a like reasonable man.

bealtine

funnyname wrote: »

What about getting direct access to the minister, surely an hour with him would get him on the right track, he seems a like reasonable man.

Good idea..do you have a way to get to him?

clohamon

bealtine wrote: »

Good idea..do you have a way to get to him?

A very short letter (paper envelope stamp etc) requesting a meeting and stating who you are by name and that you are a consumer representative group.
The letter should not include adjectives, adverbs, innuendo, sarcasm or any pejorative verb or noun.

If you get a meeting it should be made clear that everything is on the record. (beware the circle of confidence)
If there are officials present they should be prepared to be named.

watty

There are always Minders present. They also will ensure the Minister is fully "briefed" before and after.

clohamon

watty wrote: »

There are always Minders present. They also will ensure the Minister is fully "briefed" before and after.

You will have had your say - it's something.

clohamon

It looks like UPC aren't yet signed up to giving Eircom a free pass on a fibre subsidy. Oh ...and did I mention there's no money?

Deputy Pat Rabbitte: ......We are teasing out the issues involved and I hope we will conclude our work by the end of the year, after which our report will be brought to the Government to be dealt with. When Deputy Ferris says “go for broke”, he might mean it literally in that the Forfás calculation for the cost of a fibre connection to every home is some €2.5 billion.
Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív:    That is critical investment, is it not?
Deputy Pat Rabbitte:    The problem is that we do not have €2.5 billion and the industry would challenge the proposition. For example, cable is not fibre, and some 500,000 homes receive 100 megabits without access to a fibre connection. We are urging where we can.

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/AGJ/2011/09/13/00004.asp

thegills

I read that as meaning there's not €2.5Bn for FTTH but that there is substantial money for FTTC with a last mile option over cable / copper etc.

clohamon

thegills wrote: »

I read that as meaning there's not €2.5Bn for FTTH but that there is substantial money for FTTC with a last mile option over cable / copper etc.

You might be right, but I'd like to see how much UPC have budgeted for rural areas.

thegills

I can't see UPC doing anything outside of those areas where they have licenses. I would hope that the goal of the NGN task force is for those carriers involved to agree what is needed for an NGN for all of Ireland and then the taxpayer picks up the tab!

clohamon

thegills wrote: »

I can't see UPC doing anything outside of those areas where they have licenses. I would hope that the goal of the NGN task force is for those carriers involved to agree what is needed for an NGN for all of Ireland and then the taxpayer picks up the tab!

The wrong people are at it. They need network designers/engineers, not CEOs.

The only functions the CEOs can fulfill, is agreeing the corporate entity for joint ownership of network assets, haggling over the residual values of the assets they submit, and making sure it all gets done.

lucernarian

I think the right people are at it. The network designers and engineers would rather work on their own (duplicated if necessary) network without the hassle of sharing it or working with other companies with their own ideas on how to operate a network. What they would like is the sharing of some ducting or electrical supplies rather than any kind of shotgun marriage over actual cabling or data infrastructure.

clohamon

Fine, thats what they want. What I want is FTTH.

If there is no business case for one even one rural network, there can hardly be a case for two or more. In other words, it isn't going to happen without a subsidy. Since they cannot subsidise a proprietary network for Eircom alone, it must therefore be open and neutral.

lucernarian

The people who need to be convinced and in turn direct this shared network development are the highest levels of management in the companies who own the physical infrastructure. That's why I'm happy to see the likes of managing directors and CEOs attend these meetings. Given though that the most significant market failures take place in rural areas, it's almost disgraceful that the likes of shoddy urban operators such as Imagine sit on this while small ISPs with infrastructure and spectrum in rural areas do not take part in this taskforce. The likes of Airwire, Net1, Westnet etc.

FTTH need not have to be used at 100% to give proper broadband to every house. But ironically I feel it's best suited to rural areas thanks to the significant improvements in attenuation levels on a fibre compared to equivalent power levels over copper. Or indeed wireless tech with its inherently limited spectrum. I really do hope they realise this inevitable move to full fibre before they commit to half assed ideas like Fibre to a scattering of badly-placed cabinets around the country...