RELEASE: IrelandOffline Welcomes Dispute Resolutions, Recommends Action On Flat-Rate

dahamsta

I thought Dave would have posted this by now, but he's pretty busy so I said I'd post it on his behalf. This went out about 2 or 3 hours ago to the IrelandOffline media list. Dustaz, could you unstick something and stick this instead?

adam

###BEGINS###

[FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE]

IRELANDOFFLINE WELCOMES MOVES TOWARDS BITSTREAM AND LLU DISPUTE RESOLUTIONS,
BUT RECOMMENDS IMMEDIATE ACTION ON FLAT-RATE SERVICES

DUBLIN, IRELAND -- April 17, 2002 -- IrelandOffline, an independent
organisation working to bring affordable Internet access services to
Ireland, has said that it is encouraged by news of the resolution of
Bitstream and Local Loop Unbundling negotiations between Eircom Plc and the
Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR). The
organisation also called for a parallel introduction of flat-rate services,
to encourage Irish consumers and businesses to make more use of the
Internet; and accelerate Ireland's economic and cultural development towards
convergence with our European neighbours.

"Our members are encouraged to hear that ADSL is only a matter of days and
weeks away now," said IrelandOffline Chairman, David Long, "and we are
relieved that the parties have finally come up with a technical solution to
the bitstream standoff, and one that appears to resolve the uncertainty
involved in Local Loop Unbundling. There is still a lot of work to do, but
this is definitely a step in the right direction. We hope that the ODTR,
Eircom and the Other Licensed Operators (OLO's) will continue to work
towards our primary goal of affordable Internet access for all."

When asked what more could be done for Ireland, IrelandOffline explained
that the next two days will be absolutely critical for the future of the
telecommunications marketplace. The Communications (Regulation) Bill, 2002
comes before the Dáil on Thursday, and has to be passed by 6.15pm the same
day. If it does not pass, it will need to be redrafted after the General
Election, and IrelandOffline is concerned that the Bill will be put on hold
for another lengthy period. The Bill contains vital measures needed to
ensure competitiveness in the telecommunications marketplace, such as
percentage-of-revenue fines for lawbreaking operators.

"There is a lot of lobbying going on in the background against that
provision, which must be resisted" said David Long, "these fines will only
be levied when operators contravene the terms of their licences, and are
convicted in a court of law. If the operators don't break the law, they run
absolutely no risk of being fined these enormous amounts. But the threat has
to be there, because the system is unquestionably being abused."

The organisation also called on Government and Opposition parties to
introduce an amendment to the Bill, that will allow the new Commission to
mandate services urgently needed to encourage competition. IrelandOffline
says that several other European countries have already mandated flat-rate
services in their territories, and in some cases this has been achieved
using the same European Directives that apply to Ireland. However, the
Irish Telecommunications Regulator, Etain Doyle, believes that she is unable
to do so with the current transposition of the European Directives, and that
local legislation will be needed for her to do so.

David Long commented: "This is an ideal opportunity for the Government to
give the Commission the powers it needs. The Government has already taken
the need for competition into account, by re-introducing the
percentage-of-revenue levies for licence infringements. An amendment
allowing for the mandate of services like flat-rate dialup will hasten the
creation of a competitive marketplace. We're falling farther and farther
behind our European counterparts by the day, an imaginative and substantive
move like this is needed to guarantee Ireland's future in the communications
and technology sectors."


ABOUT IRELANDOFFLINE

IrelandOffline is a voluntary organisation consisting of home and business
Internet users unhappy with currently available Internet connectivity
products and services. It's brief is to campaign for the rollout of
flat-rate and high-speed Internet access services that are already the norm
in other European countries; and to promote innovation and competition in
the Irish Internet marketplace. IrelandOffline has had meetings with almost
all of the key parties involved in the Internet marketplace; organised and
hosted an innovative seminar in Dublin last year with these parties; and
most recently organised a "Blackout" protest to highlight issues to both
these parties, and the general public. The group currently represents over
1300 Internet users, and this number continues to rise.

For more information on the organisation, please visit the IrelandOffline
website at http://www.irelandoffline.org.


MEDIA CONTACT

David Long
+353 (0)XX-XXXXXXX
chairman@irelandoffline.org


Press Release drafted by Adam Beecher <io.releases@spamfilter.cc>.


###ENDS###

Arboration

Eeeeeeeee!!

This gud, vry gud, hahaha.

Dangger

Just thought this may be of useful here, a definition of bitstream:

BitstreamAccess

A wholesale DSL product offered by Eircom, whereby OLOs can rent DSL facilities from Eircom on the same terms that Eircom rents them to itself. Eircom continues to own all equipment in the exchange, but the OLO provides the Internet service which runs over the equipment.

timod

ENN:

http://enn.ie/news.html?code=7215954

IrelandOffline has said that it is encouraged by news of the resolution of the bitstream and Local Loop Unbundling negotiations between Eircom and the ODTR. The organisation also called for a parallel introduction of flat-rate services to encourage Irish consumers and businesses to make more use of the Internet, and to accelerate Ireland's economic and cultural development.

dahamsta

I love it when my words are parrotted by the press. Now if only they would give me a job!

adam

Dustaz

Mechanima
Your posts have been moved to recycle bin, as will any other trolls.

Please read this if you have a problem.

timod

In relation to the new Comms Bill, there seems to have been very little in the press other than the increased fines, and that the roads can't be opened as easily. (At least I've not seen anything other than that)

Is it worth issuing a PR statement welcoming the bill, and again calling for action on flat rate (...keep hammering it home...)

dahamsta

I guess since I'm still kinda the PR-type-person...

I don't think so to be honest Tim. One of the problems I've always had as PRO was that I couldn't afford the time to be proactive*. But I think that paid off to a degree, because I imagine media types get bored of rapid-fire press releases quite quickly. So press releases only went out when there was something important to say, and they invariably got published.

That's not to say that the Comms Bill isn't important, but I don't think our reasoning behind putting out a press release right now - pushing for flat-rate - will get any column space right now, particularly when you note the lack of coverage we got from this one. I think it better to wait until IrelandOffline has something sustantial to say, and I honestly don't think that will be long in coming.

Whatever about the politicos, civil servants seem to be waking up to the fact that IrelandOffline can actually /help/ them. But more on that later...

adam

* Like the ODTR, heh.