IrelandOffline March Newsletter

damien

Welcome to the first IrelandOffline Newsletter for 2005.

Website: www.IrelandOffline.org
Forums: www.IrelandOffline.org/forum
Email: info@irelandOffline.org

This newsletter covers:
* Chairman's Message.
* ComReg Meeting Summary.
* Minister for Communications Meeting.
* Pricing Table for the EU and OEDC Countries
* New ADSL Product Offerings Imminent.
* Local Loop Unbundling Developments.
* LLU Poll in Irish Times.
* Volunteers.
* IrelandOffline Opinion Piece in Sunday Times
* Other Press Appearances.
* Closing words.


Message from Damien Mulley, Chairman:

Firstly, apologies for not sending a newsletter sooner but we have been
amazingly busy. The summary of the what has happened since November in this
newsletter is proof of this. 2004 was a fantastic year for IrelandOffline,
coming from the brink of extinction in July to being a nationally respected
consumer group by December with a whole lot of media coverage on TV,
national and local radio and national and local papers. We've done a lot in
no small part to the great contributions on our forum as well as direct
communications with many people.

Various reports from the EU, ForFas and the Information Society Commission
towards the end of 2004 all pointed out the massive broadband deficit that
Ireland is experiencing compared to every other developed country and as a
result of our tough campaigning the main stakeholders in the
telecommunications industry now realise they cannot get away with their
misinformation anymore.

2005 is already proving to be an interesting year for broadband in Ireland
and some positive things appear to be happening. ComReg, the regulator
appears to be finally tackling the monopolistic practices of eircom by
directing them to work with all the operators to make LLU easier to do.
More on this later. However the latest consultation from ComReg would take
an already inferior Universal Obligation and make it worse. More can be
read here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=231899



ComReg Meeting:
On November 26th we met with ComReg. The meeting was just an introductory
meeting and we are hopeful of another meeting where we can discuss items
such as LLU in greater detail. More information on this meeting is
available here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=204491

Minister for Communications Meeting:
on December 17th we met with Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey and
some of his staff. This meeting like the ComReg meeting with an
introductory meeting but we must say that we left the meeting with a very
positive feeling. More details on the meeting here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=209593


Pricing Table for the EU and OEDC Countries:
We are currently compiling a pricing table to compare Ireland against other
EU countries as well as other countries around the World. To complete the
EU table we need prices from Finland and Portugal. To complete our OECD
table we need prices from Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Mexico, New
Zealand, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States. If you
know of the cost of broadband in these countries or you know people from
these countries can you forward this equest on to them and have them email
research@irelandoffline.org.

More details on what we want are on this thread here:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=218154


New ADSL Product Offerings Imminent

Smart Telecom's recent announcement of a 2mbit ADSL service has spurred
eircom into revising their bitstream provision which the likes of
eircom.net, IOL and UTV use to provide their ADSL services over. An
official announcement on the new package specifics is due within the next
few weeks, so watch this space for possible bandwidth increases and/or
price reductions.


Local Loop Unbundling Developments

Eircom and ComReg are once again back in the High Court over LLU. The
most recent blocking tactic that eircom has employed is refusing to
negotiate a framework agreement which would enable other operators to
compete effectively in the market. On Tuesday February 15th, ComReg issued
an enforcement order, directing eircom to cooperate with the regulator
after a number of previous attempts to begin negotiations failed. Eircom
applied to the High Court for a judicial review within two days.

ComReg's recent change of attitude has been encouraging and IrelandOffline
hope that they will continue to take a pro-active and timely approach to
regulation. The value of LLU is clearly demonstrated by how much Smart
Telecom's recent product announcement has shaken up the status quo that has
been allowed to develop because of stagnation in innovation and provision
in the broadband market.

LLU Poll in Irish Times.
The Irish Times recently ran a poll asking was eircom deliberately holding
up LLU in Ireland. 98% voted yes. This one of their highest results ever.
Well done to all the IrelandOffline members who voted and commented on this.

Volunteers - More Volunteers always needed.

if you've read this far, we appreciate your dedication. We may need your
help. IrelandOffline is always looking for volunteers and we have an
on-going appeal for more to help us. Since the last newsletter we have
created a mailing list for volunteers so we can communicate to them
specifically. If you would like to volunteer some time you can join the
mailing list here.

http://lists.beecher.net/mailman/listinfo/io-volunteers


IrelandOffline Opinion Piece in Sunday Times

IrelandOffline Opinion Piece in the Sunday Times on February 6th. It
covered our take on the broadband environment and who we thought were the
main people in Ireland who could drive change. You can read this opinion
piece here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-1471618,00.html


Other Press Appearances:

Dec 4th Newstalk Interview about ForFas broadband Report.
Dec 8 Beat FM interview about ForFas and Information Society Reports.
Feb 05 Newstalk Interview about changing ComReg attitudes.
Feb 16 98FM about the eircom delaying tactics / court battles.

We also appear regularly in the Sunday Business Post, the RTE News Website,
Electric News, Silicon Republic and the Register.


Closing Words
2004 was a phenomenal year for IrelandOffline and we are hoping 2005 will
be even better but we cannot do it without the continued support from our
membership. We need your feedback on all matters. Reply on the forum or
email us direct. A lot can happen in 2005 and you, the membership can be
the catalyst for change.

Thank you from the Committee
(Aidan, Damien, Eamonn, Elana, Gareth, Martin, John H, John T )