Can Eircom specifically target LLU competitors?

Blaster99

There was a thing here a while ago about BT lowering the bitstream charges in exchanges that completely coincidently had also been unbundled. Can Eircom do the same or do they have to charge the same everywhere as part of some USO?

SkepticOne

There is nothing in the USO about broadband of any sort except if you regard broadband as funtional internet access which ComReg do not.

I think lowering bitstream won't be enough to kill off the proposed Smart offering. Eircom has the option of running free trials of ADSL2+ in areas threatened with unbundling. The technology itself, of course, would largely be a red herring since much higher speeds are already available with ordinary ADSL and RADSL but Eircom don't choose to make them available. At speeds below 8 Mbit/sec, ADSL2+ simply allows these higher speeds to be available further out.

If they don't do this, they will need to take the hit on LLU and perhaps push for an increased line rental in the areas that they still monopolise.

Gonzo

I was thinking that hopefully eircom broadband will respond soon and update their pitifull packages with better caps & speed in response to smarts offer, in areas where smart is available I can see people binning eircom broadband all over the place unless eircom respond with much improved packages. Unlike NTL bb which is extremely localised in dublin, smart looks like it will be quite widespread throughout the country hopefully putting alot more pressure on eircom.

JNive

Yea, i was just checking up on smart's offer now.

Currently we have Eircom voice&dsl (the €55 package) and i am living in Cork.
I just checked the smart details, which do seem like they can blow eircom out of the water, unless eircom do something radical.

Also, the smart offering says it will be available in my exchange in May/June, so as it stands, i would say we will be switching over, and hopefully get the free lline rental offer along with it.

As it stands, this move from Smart telecom seems like a decent piece of competition in the broadband market, and about time too.

SkepticOne

Right. Here's what I would do if I was Eircom.

1. Keep the mugs who are tied up in contracts paying over priced DSL. Under no circumstances allow them to migrate to upgraded services.

2. Offer a free 'technology trial' of ADSL2+ in Smart enabled exchanges but only to those who don't currently have DSL. This preserves the high income from existing customers while seeing off competitition from Smart and other upstarts.

When smart have gone, drop the trial and revert back to whatever was there before. Eircom have already done public trials of VDSL and then not gone ahead with comercial services. Eircom also dropped ordinary DSL in 2001 which they had been trialling internally since 1998 after NTL announced the suspension of their cable modem upgrading programme.

3. Obstruct Smart in as many ways as possible. 'Lose' orders. Take a long time with transfer requests. Most people will blame Smart for this, not Eircom.

4. Another three month free trial for bitstream based DSL combined with a media campaign.

5. Upgrade to 1meg for basic DSL.

jor el

Let's hope Eircon don't read that post too Though it's likely that this is exactly what they will do.

SkepticOne

jor el wrote:

Let's hope Eircon don't read that post too

The Eircom dirty tricks department don't need any lessons from here. They are the masters. They have manipulated the Irish public to the extent that many believe that progress involves the Government paying Eircom to extend their monopoly.