Eircom announce 512K DSL @55 euros

bk

This is great news.

I expect that Esat, UTV and Via will sell products based on the bitstream whole sale rate. They will probably sell similar products to Eircom but sligthly cheaper or/and better caps (go on UTV, no cap at all :cool: ).

I expect a massive TV/radio/paper ad campaign from Eircom similar to BT in the UK, plus wide availabilty of self install kits in retail outlets (Xtravision, Phone stores, computer shops, etc.)
I'd say Eircom hope this will be the big present for next Christmas (notice how they expect most exchanges to be upgraded by then).

This way Eircom will probably take most of the mass market, while the other three will offer sligthly better products but with less marketing and therefore sell to the more aware user (e.g. us).

I wonder how the wireless companies, Leap, IBB, etc. will respond to this (they better hurry up with their roll out or get squashed).

SkepticOne

Eircom's Press release as it was released to the media.

eircom to halve cost of broadband DSL access

New mass market low cost product available from March 2003

Issued Thursday 23 January 2003: eircom today announced plans to introduce a new mass market low cost broadband DSL service from March 2003. The new low cost product will operate at speeds up to 512 kilobits per second and will be available in self install or eircom install versions. eircom said it would introduce the new product at a target retail price of €45 per month (excluding VAT) subject to regulatory approval. eircom has notified ComReg of its plans and will now focus on finalising the full price detail including pricing of the wholesale bit-stream equivalent. Consultation will now take place with ComReg and the industry to introduce the new low cost product at the earliest possible date, with a target of March 2003 at the latest.

In April 2002 eircom launched its €125 million rollout of broadband DSL. To-date a total of 700,000 telephone lines have been DSL enabled and this figure will increase to one million by December 2003.

Commenting on the announcement, Phil Nolan, Chief Executive eircom said:

“Today’s development, coupled with our significant investment in deployment of DSL technology will provide a major impetus to broadband in Ireland. Our new self-install product is competitively priced and compares very favourably with countries throughout the EU. We recognise the importance of broadband to the Irish economy and we are very pleased to demonstrate our commitment in leading the drive for broadband through today’s announcement. Our roll-out plan will extend to one million lines nationwide by the end of this year and will include all of the towns included in the government’s national spatial strategy. We will deliver a wholesale offering to competing telecommunications operators, including our own retail business, to provide the new self-install DSL service to their customers”.

eircom's DSL roll-out currently extends to 70 telephone exchanges and this will increase to approximately 110 exchanges by December 2003.

This will equate to one million telephone lines covering the greater Dublin commuter area, provincial cities and large provincial towns. It will also cover all towns included in the government’s national spatial strategy. By September 2004 the roll-out will extend to approximately 150 exchanges covering towns throughout Ireland with more than 2000 telephone lines.

eircom i-stream DSL increases the speed of internet access by up to 30 times, bringing high bandwidth to customers over ordinary copper telephone lines. It is a service that is always on and connected, eliminating the need to dial up for access and connect and disconnect from the internet. Customers can also access the internet and use the telephone simultaneously using the same telephone line. To avail of eircom i-stream DSL, customers must have a standard fixed telephone line, exchange coverage, and computer equipment that reaches the minimum required specification.
- Ends -

Issued by:
Nuala Buttner
Press Officer
eircom
Tel: 01 701 5554
Mobile: 087 235 2165
E-mail: nbuttner@eircom.ie

For further information contact:
Gerry O’Sullivan
Director, Corporate Relations
eircom
Tel: 01 701 5632
Mobile: 087 259 7644
E-mail: gosullivan@eircom.ie

Notes to Editor:

eircom’s new mass market DSL broadband product, is ‘rate adaptive’, i.e. offering speeds up to a maximum of 512k/128k and a minimum of 256k/64k. However the majority of customers who avail of the new product can expect to get the 512k/128k speed. A monthly download limit of 4 gigabytes also applies.

SkepticOne

Remark: I'm not sure if this is on the web anywhere yet. No doubt it will be on Eircom's site at some point.

Dazzer

Still with a bloody cap however :mad: the one thing stopping me from getting ADSL at the moment.

theciscokid

we're getting there ppl

slowly but surely

Raskolnikov

Originally posted by bk
This is great news.

I expect that Esat, UTV and Via will sell products based on the bitstream whole sale rate. They will probably sell similar products to Eircom but sligthly cheaper or/and better caps (go on UTV, no cap at all :cool: ).

The question is when, i'm prepared to hold out for UTV to get there own version of broadband, not for long though.

theciscokid

u said it rasko

Victor

Originally posted by Dazzer
Still with a bloody cap however :mad: the one thing stopping me from getting ADSL at the moment.

How reasonable is 4GB/month (=~ 12k/s constant)?

Ardmore

Originally posted by Muck
OK I'm not trying to sell you USB chill chill.

Whats your recommendation for an ADSL PPPoE modem with an ethernet port then ?

Dlink or Linksys or SMC or Asus will do but ONLY if ya got them working here in the E-Tub before.

I was on the i-scream trial (it's over a year ago now :-( so I just had the stock modem supplied by Eircom. (The installer arrived with a USB one, and I sent him back out to the van for an Ethernet one :-).

I used it with a D-Link DI-804 (firewall/router with 4 port ethernet hub), and networked 2 other PCs in the house to it.

So I don't have a recommendation for an ADSL modem. There's an interesting looking list of hardware on the UK ADSL site (so most of it should work here).

SkepticOne

Originally posted by Raskolnikov
The question is when, i'm prepared to hold out for UTV to get there own version of broadband, not for long though.

Well, Eircom don't have a wholesale product currently agreed with the regulator. Until then, neither UTV nor Eircom can actually launch retail products.

I would hold out for UTV myself.

crawler

Exactly Skeptic there is NO PRODUCT YET.

Dont get me wrong - the announcement is good but I want to see a product not a promise.

neverhappen

am I just being cynical or is the announcement timed to put pressure on comreg in the wholesale price negotiations. If comreg dont readily agree to eircoms proposed pricing and hold up the launch then its the 'bad comreg wont let us give people cheap dsl' story we had with istream all over again...

theciscokid

i hope this €55 month includes line rental ,

whats it at the moment €32 every two months

Dazzer

Line rental is 16 Euro for a single line and 32 if you have ISDN or a second line I **THINK**

Raskolnikov

Originally posted by SkepticOne
Well, Eircom don't have a wholesale product currently agreed with the regulator. Until then, neither UTV nor Eircom can actually launch retail products.

I would hold out for UTV myself.

Good point, this doesn't mean cheaper broadband yet, we'll have to wait and see what ComReg say. But we can live in hope that a low (relatively) price will be set so people like UTV can offer us something nice.

bk

Originally posted by Raskolnikov
The question is when, i'm prepared to hold out for UTV to get there own version of broadband, not for long though.

As SkepticOne said Eircom need to negotiate a whole sale price before even they can release a retail product, therefore I'm sure the other companies will also be ready to launch products around the same time, they won't want to let Eircom build up a lead over them.

It should be more straigth forward for these companies to resell bitstream then it will be to even roll out FRIACO.

dahamsta

Speaking of cynical: Am I the only one here concerned that Eircom are announcing details like this before they've even /started/ developing a wholesale product? Isn't this a clear case of monopoly and non-separation abuse?

In other words, it looks to all intents and purposes that Eircom Net has decided a retail price and Eircom Plc will now develop a wholesale product around Eircom Net's requirements. Think about that: It means that either Eircom Plc isn't considering costs appropriately, or that Eircom Net has been party to Eircom Plc's cost structures; both of which are grossly anti-competitive and unfair to the OLO's.

Sorry guys, I hate to put a damper on all the joy here, but we have to consider this objectively.

adam

SkepticOne

Originally posted by dahamsta
Speaking of cynical: Am I the only one here concerned that Eircom are announcing details like this before they've even /started/ developing a wholesale product? Isn't this a clear case of monopoly and non-separation abuse?

The danger is that Eircom will try to set a wholesale price too close to the retail price (i.e. margin squeeze). ComReg will then be forced to delay the product. Eircom will then blame ComReg for the delay. Eircom win by keeping everyone on dial-up while ComReg gets the bad press.

KdjaCL

Evenin herlad article.

High Speed Internet access for domestic phone users is on the way.
As Telecomes company Eircom ,today launched a superfast broadband. The new DSL technology will be available to home phone users for under €50 excluding VAT.
Dsl will enable PCs to access up to 30 times faster than normal connections.
It also allow users to have an always on internet connection.
Its provision is considered essential to create "an information society for citizens" Eircom current DSL costs €89 including VAT So the new offer is expected to attract a lot of customers.
Eirocm Istream DSL offering has been mainly used by the business sector.
Its believed that Eirocm has enabled some 500,00 phone lines in mainly urban areas to use the DSL technology.
The High cost of DSL technology here means that people are slow to take it up which is a trend thats reflected across the EU.Eircom was accused of dragging its heels in providing the faster cheaper internet access but last night, Telecoms experts was due to announce shortly its wholesale rate for DSL following a recent ultimatum from the regulator ComReg.
Presently a limited DSL broadband service is available from both EsatBT and Eircom.
The introductiion of low cost DSL has been long delayed and demanded in the marketplace.

theciscokid

from rte

http://www.onbusiness.ie/2003/0123/broadband.html

The price of high speed access to the Internet is set to fall significantly, following a decision by Eircom to cut its broadband prices in half. But competitors have called the move predatory and anti-competitive.

Eircom currently charges €89 a month for customers to access a broadband service which allows users to access the Internet over 18 times faster than through an ordinary phone line. The charge for this service will be halved to around €45 a month and Eircom hopes to offer it from March.

Competitors such as Esat BT say the move is predatory and anti-competitive as it has not been offered a wholesale rate first, as it must under the terms of Eircom's licence. But Eircom says it has notified the regulator ComReg and is working on a new wholesale price.

Eircom also announced that broadband would be available to any town with over 2,000 telephone lines by September of next year. Ireland currently has one of the lowest rates of broadband usage in the OECD

cgarvey

Originally posted by neverhappen
am I just being cynical or is the announcement timed to put pressure on comreg in the wholesale price negotiations. If comreg dont readily agree to eircoms proposed pricing and hold up the launch then its the 'bad comreg wont let us give people cheap dsl' story we had with istream all over again...

Thats eircom's modus operandi .. you'd be surprised the number of people who bought those eircom phones that think the ODTR/ComReg are some shower.

i-stream, fixed line texts, this ... you get the picture. They're trying hard, but the regulator is just being too hard on them, poor things.. musha god love 'em all the same

.cg

Ardmore

Originally posted by Dazzer
Line rental is 16 Euro for a single line and 32 if you have ISDN or a second line I **THINK**

Line Rental is €19.60 per month (including VAT). It's €37.50 if you have "Hi-Price".

ADSL is an optional service for those who have a phone line already, so the ADSL price doesn't include line rental (which is perfectly reasonable, IMO).

sutty

ok, is it just me or is the number of lines that are *upgraded changing by as few hunderd thousand every report?



*the exchange has been upgraded, but a lot of them lines will fail as they are outside the range/ or are split lines. Nice con Eircom

ednwireland

Isn't this just a ploy by eircom to protect their call revenue from us culchies (whats someone who isn't a gatey or a hubby ?)
because from other post i can't see DSL ever reaching small irish towns. so basically eircom introduce this knowing that very few people will realistically be able to avail of it and the argue with comreg aboiut not having to intorduce FRIACO
or am i just being cynical cos if i ran eircom and wanted to protect my call revenues thats what i'd do.

Tippex

Guys,

Will this be only for new installs after march or will it be for all current subcribers.

I'm supposed to be getting solo installed on Tuesday next.

Cheers,
D.

Bard

The press release features on Eircom's own web site, here:

http://mmm.eircom.ie/about/PressReleases/PressRelease.asp?id=397

Oh and according to this one, the SMS service has 'officially' gone live:

http://mmm.eircom.ie/about/PressReleases/PressRelease.asp?id=396

scojones

Originally posted by Dazzer
Still with a bloody cap however :mad: the one thing stopping me from getting ADSL at the moment.

I hear that. Exact same reason stopping me

PiE

Originally posted by Ardmore
Line Rental is €19.60 per month (including VAT). It's €37.50 if you have "Hi-Price".

ADSL is an optional service for those who have a phone line already, so the ADSL price doesn't include line rental (which is perfectly reasonable, IMO).

It'd be perfectly reasonable if the line rental wasnt already the highest in Europe, coupled with the most expensive DSL in Europe.

Reasonable? Eircom don't know the meaning of the word.

PiE

Originally posted by dahamsta
In other words, it looks to all intents and purposes that Eircom Net has decided a retail price and Eircom Plc will now develop a wholesale product around Eircom Net's requirements. Think about that: It means that either Eircom Plc isn't considering costs appropriately, or that Eircom Net has been party to Eircom Plc's cost structures; both of which are grossly anti-competitive and unfair to the OLO's.

If that's true, surely we can (and should) write to certain people (CA?) and get them to look into it?

Bard

Originally posted by SkepticOne
Remark: I'm not sure if this is on the web anywhere yet. No doubt it will be on Eircom's site at some point.

http://mmm.eircom.ie/about/PressReleases/PressRelease.asp?id=397