Irish broadband 36x as expensive as Japan and 14x French prices

Sqaull20 wrote: »

What would be the point in screaming?

Those Aussie cowboys have total control...

Loop unbundling at French prices + an aggressive sub-loop unbundling programme to deliver BROADBAND (ie 20+ Mbits/sec) country-wide (without all these cooked up deterrent extra charges on ISPs to get physical access to the public wireline infrastructure) would get things on the right path. Sub-loop unbundling can deliver broadband to the remotest location, and provide high speed multi-play services to everyone, irrespective of distance from the RSU.

The Aussies are in a very weak position with their high reliance on debt and the current realities of the [subprime] credit markets (not to mention the substance -v- form issues surrounding their financial reporting – they are operating eircom and lots of other non financial companies without publishing consolidated financial accounts to their shareholders).

Eircom’s 95% control of the DSL broadband market in Ireland + the fact that broadband speeds in Ireland are typically one twentieth of those available in other European countries should give the competition authorities grounds to take action. And if they don't, perhaps it is time to look at the operation and effectiveness of the competition authorities in terms of the service they provide to the public.

Eircom is a very material portion of Babcock's balance sheet (a tail wagging the dog). If eircom's license to do business was withdrawn as a result of its competitive abuse of the market, while it would be a five billion problem for B&B, appropriate legislation could be put in place to assure continuity of telecommunications services in IRL.

.probe