Esat signs unbundling deal with Eircom

MyPerfectCousin

ADSL for consumers....

SDSL for businesses...

In three to four months....

But only in Limerick! (for now)

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2001/1110/fin12.htm

pertinax

Sounds nice doesnt it
but assume a senario where an expat no limits molester tries to sign up for a new esat service what do esat say to them?
Still esat could force eircom to introduce similar products.
Best remember this is still leprechaun land.

ekehoe

Originally posted by pertinax
Sounds nice doesnt it
but assume a senario where an expat no limits molester tries to sign up for a new esat service what do esat say to them?

I really don't see that as a problem at all, since Esat knows that the heavy users are the ones who will support them more than Eircom (no, really...). We mentioned to ACT a long time ago that folks who were kicked off SNL could be looked at as beta testers (good faith gesture) and he seemed interested, so that's not the issue at all. They never really wanted to kick us off in the first place, ya know. Bottom line and all that.

E

mike65

This had to happen first somewhere or other but why Limerick
I wonder?

Mike.

Fidelis

Because Eircon don't care if they lose it, sure Chorus are strong in Limerick if I recall correctly.

MyPerfectCousin

Originally posted by mike65
This had to happen first somewhere or other but why Limerick
I wonder?

Mike.

Well, no matter what, in Dublin Esat will be second to market to Eircom. In Limerick they will be first.

I imagine there are both marketing and technical reasons for the choice as well - perhaps the demographics there are promising, and perhaps the particular exchange(s) will be easier to kit out quickly and efficiently.

John

rymus

hmm, why Limerick? odd place to start an xDSL rollout. Granted that Chorus started their rollout/test of powernet up in stab city, but the lines of Limerick posess any power which Cork or Dublin lines dont? Maybe Eircom have been doing secret DSL tests in Limerick and Esat just want to use their lines! Daaaamn, I should write thrillers!

But hey, look on it this way my fellow Corkonians: Limerick is closer to Cork than it is to Dublin, so Mr. Esat, when ure all done and dusted in Limerick, come down to Cork like a good chap

I really need sleep...

GoneShootin

here here says the cork man. and as im in mitchelstown, which is quite close to limerick, maybe i could persuade the engineers to extend the rollout 20 miles, is that too much to ask

sounds good, but i wont get exited till it happens

SkepticOne

One interesting thing is that the article specifically mentions ADSL. Up to this point the general opinion seems to have been that they would be doing only SDSL for the business market. ADSL will have them competing directly with Eircom. Whatever you're opinion of ESAT, this is certainly good news. Another thing will be the price. If this is significantly lower than Eircom's then it will be very bad news for Eircom. They will be exposed as being rip-off artists. Furthermore, they will be unable to back down as they have been claiming that the price they are charging reflects the true cost and that all other ADSL providers worldwide are subsidising ADSL (ha ha).

That's if ESAT actually go ahaed and do the work, of course.

aidan_dunne

This is a very good sign and certainly a step forward. Now that Eircom seem to have copped on a little bit and decided to finally unbundle (even if it is only one exchange so far) I can't see any reason why they can't offer FRIACO. That's what most of us really want and it could be operating at the flick of a switch.

Didn't that Pat Galvin guy from Eircom say something at the seminar about how he saw no reason why FRIACO couldn't be operating by Christmas? Okay Mr. Galvin and Eircom, put your (huge amount of) money where your mouth is and give us a nice Christmas present!

dahamsta

Congratulations to Esat, Eircom, and of course the ODTR for putting so much work into finalising what must have been horrifyingly complex contracts, and finally signing on the dotted. Although this isn't the final step in the unbundling process, we can but hope that the next announcement from Esat will be the actual unbundling of lines, and I look forward to reading that press release and reviewing the products and pricing. I also look forward to announcements from other key players in the unbundling process real soon now.

Onwards and upwards!

adam

Boston

aidan_dunne, forget friaco, its not even on the table yet. there will be a nolimits type arrangment before theres friaco

i welcome this to, this is probably the means by which eircom will be allowed to go ahead with adsl plans

hudson806

Originally posted by «Bo§ton»
aidan_dunne, forget friaco, its not even on the table yet. there will be a nolimits type arrangment before theres friaco

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Are you just suggesting that another telco might launch an unlimited dial-up package without a wholesale flat-rate from Eircom?

Boston

what i mean, is eircom probably will have their own nolimits type offer which they sell wholesale to teleco.

friaco may not work here but this system of joint flatrate and perminute charges probably would without a doubt and we should be asking why it hasnt happened. it makes sense (to me anyway) that this would be the frist step as in england(afaik) towards friaco

sceptre

Limerick eh?

Whoooppppeeeeee

No details of pricing, possible caps etc?

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by «Bo§ton»
friaco may not work here but this system of joint flatrate and perminute charges probably would without a doubt and we should be asking why it hasnt happened. it makes sense (to me anyway)

Ummm, no offense or anything but have you been living under a rock or something since last April?

The reason Esat cut off the 2,000 users (myself included) was because they were loosing too much money due to the call charges Eircom were forcing them to pay. As the whole No Limits debacle proved, a flat-rate and per-minute charges system does not work. For an unmetered package to work Eircom need to charge the other operators a reasonable wholesale flat-rate price themselves. Until this happens there is no way another company will provide an unmetered package in the Irish market. If, as I think you may be getting at here, Eircom release an unmetered package themselves but don't offer a similar system to other operators the other telecos would scream blue murder and this would just go further to show everybody the monopolistic mindset of Eircom.

As a report posted on another thread shows, FRIACO does work and does increase the amount of people connecting to the net. I really think there is nothing stopping Eircom from offering FRIACO except out and out greed. It's a pity the government have put back the implementation of the Communications Bill as I feel that could have giving the ODTR some real powers to force Eircom to finally offer FRIACO.

Boston

I had esat no limits, it was a complete success, in any normal business situation it was.
The only reason it failed was because of the per minute charges. If eircom released a no limits service like esat, by law they have to offer a wholesale product to the competition, this will happen before friaco happens mark my words.

The joint per minute system worked here, the 20000 subscribers proved that. Eircom would have a hard time using the “No Market Demand ” line this time on that one

Dustaz

Best news all month this

LLU starting, and its not even in Dublin

Would i be right in assuming that that Limerick exchange is/will be fully unbundled? Or are Esat only installing DSLAMS and other equipment, but not getting full control over the lines. Anyone?

If this works out, then maybe full LLU is closer than we thought.

Lemming

Originally posted by aidan_dunne
Didn't that Pat Galvin guy from Eircom say something at the seminar about how he saw no reason why FRIACO couldn't be operating by Christmas? Okay Mr. Galvin and Eircom, put your (huge amount of) money where your mouth is and give us a nice Christmas present!

if I recall, pat Galvin also told us that we should be grateful for what we have, and that Eircom should left alone to roll out VOIP services.

FRIACO anytime soon from that shower wouldn't be an Xmas product, it would be an act of divine retribution from God on them.

lphchild

Does this Esat move signal the beginning of a duopoly in the broadband/internet consumer communications market?

Does it occur to anyone else that while the unbundling of *one* exchange is great, the fact that we appear to be heading towards an East/West split of the market is definitely *not* good for the consumer?

Potentially both telcos could operate competitionless??

Alarm bells sounding,

lph

dahamsta

LLU starting, and its not even in Dublin

It might not go Dublin, at least not for a while. The signs are that Esat will roll out in exchanges around the country, but as yet they have no reason to compete directly against Eircom in areas where they (will) already have a service. They may tackle that from the bitstream angle yet I guess.

Would i be right in assuming that that Limerick exchange is/will be fully unbundled?

The impression I've been given is that Esat is interested in full local loop unbundling.

Does this Esat move signal the beginning of a duopoly in the broadband/internet consumer communications market?

I don't think so. Two other organisations have expressed an interest in co-location, and although I don't know the status of their agreements, I imagine it's only a matter of time before more announcements.

Does it occur to anyone else that while the unbundling of *one* exchange is great, the fact that we appear to be heading towards an East/West split of the market is definitely *not* good for the consumer?

I don't believe it will be an East/West split, in fact if anything it will be a Dublin/Everywhere else spilt. Obviously, for competition to truly be effective, we need a wide range of services available from a wide range of providers, so we still have a way to go. But getting anything rolled out at the moment is good news.

spongebob

Hi,

This deal has a lot to do with the ESAT and Eircom exchanges in Limerick being in very close proximity and to the availibility of space in the Eircom exchange.

It is not bitstream access as I hear but a full unbundling at a frame owned by ESAT in the Eircom exchange. All the CO equipment belongs to ESAT other than the copper.

ESAT do not have 30 odd points in greater Dublin, all close to an Eircom exchange , all of which are not stuffed with kit already, therefore to roll out Dublin wide they would need bitstream from Eircom.

The alternative of course is to do what Redstone did in the UK and to put the ESAT 'exchange' in a cabinet on the street outside the Eircom exchange.

It may also be more urgent to do something quickly in Limerick owing to the activities of Irishwan.Org in the Midwest area with the 'blessing' of Shannon Developement...see the Irishwan site

M

M

Moriarty

Originally posted by Muck
It may also be more urgent to do something quickly in Limerick owing to the activities of Irishwan.Org in the Midwest area with the 'blessing' of Shannon Developement...see the Irishwan site

Uhm, maybe im missing something but.. theres no such news item on irishwan.org relating to shannon dev, and nothing on the shannon-dev site relating to irishwan.org?

spongebob

SFADCO (Shannon Dev) is the only dev body that is being somewhat pro active in getting cable installed (and lit) on its patch...the IDA and Udarás are lagging them noticeably.

SFADCO are also the only body that would consider grant aiding a group such as Irishwan in its area.

Was I right on the rest of the geography lesson in re Limerick?

M