Indo: Net access fee cap sought

seamus

With a rather confusing title, Ailish O Hora has picked up on the recent Press Release:
http://www.unison.ie/business/it_sector/stories.php3?ca=147&si=900324

LOBBY group Ireland Offline has called on the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern, to cap the monthly charge for a flat rate internet access service at €30.

"The Minister should use his powers under the Communications
Act 2002 to define affordable flat rate access and to specify to the regulator €30 per month as the definition of affordable in 2003 terms," said David Long, chairman of Ireland Offline.

A decision notice earlier this week from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) outlined a timescale for flat rate internet access call origination (FRIACO) to be made available to the public from June next.

The FRIACO saga has been fought out in recent years, with Eircom dragging its heels on the issue. According to Mr Long, Ireland has a long way to go to catch up with the rest of Europe on connectivity.

Ailish O'Hora

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Cork

The FRIACO saga has been fought out in recent years, with Eircom dragging its heels on the issue. According to Mr Long, Ireland has a long way to go to catch up with the rest of Europe on connectivity.

Well - Eircom got a nice little mention as well. Dragging Heals?


I think Comregs decision on the portability of mobile phone numbers will shake up this sector.

Comreg is not doing half bad.

hmmm

Originally posted by Cork
I think Comregs decision on the portability of mobile phone numbers will shake up this sector.

Comreg is not doing half bad.

Sorry to be so negative but that's delayed as well now.

sceptre

Originally posted by Cork
I think Comregs decision on the portability of mobile phone numbers will shake up this sector.

Won't make the slightest difference to fixed-line Net access. And whether mobile number portability is a good thing or not could be debated well into the night. Up to now at least people have known what network the person they were calling was on (which is a small advantage when mobile calls aren't free)

David C

Incidently, you can view the story without subscription at eircom.net (unlike unison.ie):

Net access fee cap is sought:
http://content.eircom.net/content/unison/business/176716?view=Eircomnet

Xian

It appears ComReg aren't the only ones to suffer from negative spin on stories relating to them. In the response to the Minister, on which the story is based, there is no mention of a cap:

The flat-rate product to be negotiated should be affordable, always on, and open access. In particular the Minister should use his powers under the Communications Act 2002 to define affordable flat-rate access and to specify to the regulator €30 per month as the definition of affordable in 2003 terms.

Affordability is one of the prerequisites set out by the Minister in the direction for broadband availability and the same should be the case for flat-rate access. In our opinion, the wholesale FRIACO price should be set in such a way as to make a retail flat-rate service economically viable for not more than €30 per month.

A cap is a regulatory tool that reduces the prices of existing services - you cannot have a cap on a service that doesn't exist as you cannot reduce a price that hasn't been set. As such, there would be no reason for us to call for a cap. This spin is convenient for the likes of the Independent as it portrays our calls for affordable access as a call for a reduction in price of an existing service. People reading this and not aware of FRIACO and its implications for the pricing of internet access will therefore get a negative impression of our intentions.

What we are looking for is for the Minister to define "affordable" as being part of the flat rate internet access service to be negotiated, as he has seen fit to do for the broadband objective he has set. Whereas the affordability of the broadband initiative is to be defined according to a range of services and pricing structures, the affordability of flat rate relates to one service, FRIACO, and therefore one pricing structure. It is therefore reasonable for the Minister to define a specific price in the context of existing prices of such services abroad.

This is not a cap, it is a statement of fact. Affordable flat rate in 2003 is €30, no matter how you look at it.

dahamsta

This is going to sound bitchy Xian, but if Dave actually said this...

"The Minister should use his powers under the Communications Act 2002 to define affordable flat rate access and to specify to the regulator €30 per month as the definition of affordable in 2003 terms"

...well, it's not /strictly/ a cap, but it is asking for a price restriction, which, let's be honest, is a cap when you get right down to it.

I mean, Jesus, don't get me wrong, I think there should be a price cap - and I think it should be /called/ a price cap - but on this occasion I don't think the Independent was reaching all that far. On this occasion. The /general/ tone of negativity towards progress is a absolute disgrace though. But more on that anon.

adam

Xian

Originally posted by dahamsta
This is going to sound bitchy Xian
Ooh! Saucer of milk for table eight! ;-)

I think there should be a price cap - and I think it should be /called/ a price cap - but on this occasion I don't think the Independent was reaching all that far.

Let's decide whether that's worth asking for after we get FRIACO, eh? A cap is a different beast altogether and public consultation on that ended last Friday.

In the meantime, either

a) the Indo (and enn) intentionally spun the story in an attempt to put down our calls for affordable flat rate by blurring the difference in pricing structure of FRIACO and per-minute charging. Or
b)It is misinformed (just as damaging) and should be corrected.

Or maybe (most likely)
c)I'm getting paranoid that something is going to scupper the deal at this late stage.

dahamsta

Ooh! Saucer of milk for table eight!

heh

a) the Indo (and enn) intentionally spun the story in an attempt to put down our calls for affordable flat rate by blurring the difference in pricing structure of FRIACO and per-minute charging. Or
b)It is misinformed (just as damaging) and should be corrected.

I'd wager it's a mixture of both.

c)I'm getting paranoid that something is going to scupper the deal at this late stage.

I think you might be talking to the wrong person about paranoia.

In all seriousness, I think that there's something to be learned from this: Next time stress "affordable" and if talking about prices, make sure it's wrapped up in something like "we genuinely think that around €blah is the best price for all involved, and that's an informed opinion". Don't give the ba5tards the opportunity.

adam

dahamsta

Uh-oh, it happened again Xian. We could hardly accuse the BBC of bias, so what happened this time -- did they pick up on the previous story or did they talk to Dave directly?

adam

Ireland Offline is calling on the government to ensure that such services are capped at a maximum of 30 euros (£20) per month.

vinnyfitz

The reference to the cap comes in the header of the IOFFL press release - posted in an earlier thread.
I don't think we should worry too much about the semantics of this.
Nice one syllable words like "cap" are easy for journalists to latch onto - they get the general message across concisely.
The main point is that the media are hearing the bottom line is €30 from Ireland Offline.

dahamsta

"Minister must insist on €30 per month price cap for basic internet access."

Heh, I didn't notice that. There's me spending valuable time developing a coherent argument and I could have just pointed at that all along.

adam

Xian

- I'm going to go for this one. I'm pretty sure it's c, Gay. Paranoia.
- Final answer?

Dustaz

Originally posted by Xian
[BI'm pretty sure it's c, Gay. Paranoia. [/B]

Boy, did i ever read that wrong....

dahamsta

Was this the board you were looking for Xian?

http://muppet.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?forumid=255

har har

adam