ESB (ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS) BILL 2013

clohamon

Heres the new Bill enabling ESB - Telecoms
http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/bills28/bills/2013/13513/b13513d.pdf

The Bill enables wholesale or retail provision.


Definitions

“electronic communications network” means transmission systems and, where applicable—
(a) switching equipment or routing equipment, and
(b) other resources,
including network elements which are not active, which permit the conveyance of signals by wire, by radio, by optical or by other electromagnetic means, and such conveyance includes the use of—
(i) satellite networks,
(ii) fixed terrestrial networks (both circuit-switched and packet-switched, including internet),
(iii) mobile terrestrial networks,
(iv) electricity cable systems to the extent that they are used for the purpose of transmitting signals,
(v) networks used for either or both radio and television broadcasting, and (vi) cable television networks,
irrespective of the type of information conveyed;

“electronic communications service” means a service normally provided for remuneration which consists wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals on electronic communications networks, including telecommunications services and transmission services in networks used for broadcasting, but does not include—
(a) services providing, or exercising editorial control over, content transmitted using electronic communications networks and services, and
(b) information society services (within the meaning of Article 1 of Directive 98/34/ 10 EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 19981) which do
not consist wholly or mainly in the conveyance of signals on electronic communications networks;

What ESB may do.

The Board may engage in all or any of the businesses of—
(a) developing electronic communications networks and electronic communications
services infrastructure,
(b) leasing, licensing, selling and otherwise providing, making use of and engaging in any service in connection with electronic communications networks and electronic communications services infrastructure, and
(c) electronic communications networks or electronic communications services, or both, whether on a wholesale or retail basis,
in each case either alone or with any other company and shall have all such powers as may be necessary or expedient for that purpose.

clohamon

The debate on this Bill brought a pretty mixed quality of contributions. What was noticeable was that EVERYONE supported it.

http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2014012200045?opendocument
http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2014012300010?opendocument
http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2014012300031?opendocument

The Minister made a curious remark at the close, in relation to Éamon Ó’Cuív’s speech, which seemed to hint at gap funding to extend the ESB investment.

Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív’s contribution ought to be studied by newer Members. The tenor of it was immensely constructive and I do not disagree with much of his vision. The sting is in the tail, however, when he told me to get on with rolling out fibre to every home in the country, as that is a tall order for reasons of cost and so forth which people will understand. The Deputy admitted himself that, even after 14 years in government, he had not managed to achieve it either. We will give it a go and see how far we get.

cgarvey

... "and by 'we', I mean 'the market', deputy"

clohamon

cgarvey wrote: »

... "and by 'we', I mean 'the market', deputy"

We'll see where the NBP funding goes. It would mess things up if he were to betray any prejudices in advance of the tender.

btw, he also indicated that the ESB would make their announcement within the next month and work would start immediately afterwards.

Committee stage of Bill: Select sub-Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Thursday, 6 February 2014 at 2 p.m. in Committee Room 4

clohamon

This committee stage was cleared in an hour with no amendments being carried.

In passing, the Minister mentioned that the writer of this article, “knew what he was talking about”, in relation to the ESB FTTB project.

If it proceeds, it will be on the basis of being a competitor in areas already served by high-speed broadband.

ItHurtsWhenIP

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/esb-broadband-wont-improve-rural-experience-much-29983827.html

Contrary to all the recent coverage indicating such an eventuality, there is a very slim chance of rural businesses receiving ESB-based fibre broadband any time soon.

Why? Because the ESB and its partner telecoms network (a multi-platform telecoms firm yet to be announced) aren't planning it. In fact, it's highly unlikely that the new network will get anywhere near the countryside: it is being geared up for "selected urban areas" and "will be utilised where it is practical to do so".

This isn't the whisper of any insider: it's what the ESB has written down in black and white on its tender contract.

:mad:

bealtine

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/esb-broadband-wont-improve-rural-experience-much-29983827.html

:mad:

We've been saying that for a long time...they *could* do it but won't be doing it any time soon, perhaps in 20 years?

BeerWolf

MMFITWGDV wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/esb-broadband-wont-improve-rural-experience-much-29983827.html

:mad:

Then wtf is the point of having such a service when people in urban areas ALREADY got fibre ??

bealtine

BeerWolf wrote: »

Then wtf is the point of having such a service when people in urban areas ALREADY got fibre ??

Well urban areas do not have fibre at this time, they have cable and VDSL which are not the same thing by a long shot...

But yes I agree the ESB fibre should be rolled out more extensively and not just in a few select urban areas.

Perhaps this is a play for "gap funding"?

clohamon

This Bill has passed all stages in the Seanad and should be law in a few days.


Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh wanted to insert an amendment..

“That this fibre optic cable shall not be privatised.”

but Senator Feargal Quinn hasn't given up on privatising State Utilities just yet...

Senator Feargal Quinn:…….. at some future stage there could well be a need to privatise the network and it would be incorrect at this stage for us to tie the hands of a future Government so as to restrict it from taking such a step.

.........and the Minister later reflected on the relative ignorance of his Dáil colleagues.

Deputy Pat Rabbitte:.........Several colleagues in the Lower House had all kinds of figures on where we rank on broadband provision and connectivity today. Most of it was wrong. I know we could never level such a charge against a Member of this House but in the Lower House Members are poorly informed on some matters and this is one of them. The point about the initiative we are taking is that it will greatly enhance prospects of high-quality connectivity for parts of Ireland that otherwise would not get it.

bealtine

clohamon wrote: »

.........and the Minister later reflected on the relative ignorance of his Dáil colleagues.
The point about the initiative we are taking is that it will greatly enhance prospects of high-quality connectivity for parts of Ireland that otherwise would not get it.

And then goes and demonstrates how little he actually knows what he's talking about

ItHurtsWhenIP

http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/what-will-esbvodafone-fibre-network-do-to-entice-new-punters-30108429.html

Bit of a spurious article title, but anyway ...

Bear in mind that the volume of internet traffic is still booming in Ireland: it rose by 75pc in the last year alone. That requires heavy-lifting pipes in the medium to long run.

Probably all thanks to UPC, but still fairly incredible growth going on.

First, sources say that the new service won't be competing against UPC, full stop. This could literally go as far as dividing out neighbourhoods. "If UPC is available in one street, we won't go there but we may do the next street," said one person close to the joint venture. With half the country's homes and businesses covered by UPC – mostly in the profitable, densely populated areas – this narrows the new service's coverage considerably. By contrast, sources say that the ESB-Vodafone network will absolutely compete against Eircom's eFibre service.

5. Who will get the service first and how many will get it eventually?

Between 400,000 and 500,000 premises (out of around two million premises in Ireland) will represent the "first phase" of the rollout. The context here is that the ESB has about 1,300km of fibre-optic cable in Ireland (compared with over 10,000km held by Eircom). So it's not clear as to what the joint venture would have to do to launch a 'second phase'.

So now we are much more clear ...

JTMan

What is the logic behind not wanting to complete with UPC full stop? It would be so much cheaper for the ESB / Vodafone to roll out their product in urban areas.

watty

There is fixed amount of capital available to invest in theory.

Isn't it better it's spent where people can't get superfast Broadband?

bk

Fungus wrote: »

What is the logic behind not wanting to complete with UPC full stop? It would be so much cheaper for the ESB / Vodafone to roll out their product in urban areas.

The ESB plan on targeting urban and semi-urban areas where UPC don't operate.

These will still be relatively dense and cheap areas to roll out to.

It makes sense not to compete with UPC as UPC are already capable of matching almost anything the ESB do with FTTH. UPC's HFC network is already very capable. UPC could sell 500mb/s BB in the morning if they liked (they already sell it to business customers) and the DOCSIS 3.1 standard which will allow for 1Gb/s, was just released last October. UPC was one of the leaders in the development of this standard and are expected to start rolling it out next year.

Also UPC's network is relatively fibre deep, even much more so then Eircoms VDSL network, so they could even start doing FTTH too if they wanted to.

Finally it is easier for the ESB to compete with just Eircom, then two companies of Eircom and UPC.

The ESB's plan is quite clear, to become the "UPC" of non UPC areas. I'd guess they hope to steal 40% of the market in their areas from Eircom, in much the same way UPC has done in the areas they operate in.

Seems like a very good plan.

clohamon

The ESB's project will proceed in parallel and I hope it will be ready to start stringing cable at the end of this year or, certainly, by quarter one of next year. Vodafone has been selected as the joint partner on foot of the expressions of interest process for the project. Detailed and conclusive work has been done on the project and I hope that a formal announcement will be made in the next couple of weeks.

http://oireachtasdebates.oireachtas.ie/debates%20authoring/debateswebpack.nsf/takes/dail2014061200008?opendocument

It's not clear how the ESB's project "will proceed in parallel [with the rural fibre investment]". Procurement of the rural fibre isn't due to start until 2015, and roll-out not 'til 2016.

bk

clohamon wrote: »

It's not clear how the ESB's project "will proceed in parallel [with the rural fibre investment]". Procurement of the rural fibre isn't due to start until 2015, and roll-out not 'til 2016.

I wouldn't read too much into that. The ESB rollout is expected to take 5 years, so there should certainly be a few years of overlap between the two projects, even if they start at different times.