Government to invest €60m in broadband plan

The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is expected to launch a new State broadband programme today with the announcement that the Government will invest €60 million to create high-speed fibreoptic networks around 20 regional cities and towns.

It is understood Mr Ahern may also announce the creation of a significant broadband fibreoptic network around the State, into which the smaller local networks would connect.

It is known that advanced discussions with a major global provider for such a network were concluded recently.

Other options, such as wireless and satellite networks, would also be considered to bring broadband connectivity to more remote regions of the country.

The €60 million fund is well in excess of the cost of the initial set of fibre networks, and it is believed that an additional 20 towns will be similarly financed from that amount within coming months.

The larger network and the smaller rings would operate as a public access network. This means that, rather than being controlled by one of the major telecommunications companies in the State - which would then expect to recoup the investment made in constructing the network - the entire network would be managed through a public private partnership arrangement.

This would place a consistent management structure across the whole network and local authorities would not run the risk of having to find their own management teams for their local rings.

It would also significantly lower the cost of broadband access within the State. It is expected that this low-cost environment would encourage smaller companies to offer services to businesses and consumers over the network.

The local access project is not entirely new. The Department of Public Enterprise announced the funding of the ring projects before Christmas. But, by this time, the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Finance are known to have come under increasing pressure from industry over the State's lack of domestic broadband capacity or an overall development policy.

The two departmnets decided to review Government's efforts to create a broadband programme.

Most of these efforts have been based in the Department of Public Enterprise. It has a small unit that has worked on large-scale telecommunications deals in the past, such as the arrangement to buy capacity from Global Crossing's transatlantic cable.

The Department of Finance and the Department of the Taoiseach do not have units with similar focus. However, Finance has called in consultants in the past to advise on technology issues.

Recently, the advice of such consultants on the way in which the State should auction its 3G telephony licences was at the centre of a long-running row with the telecoms regulator which, in turn, has caused long delays in the availability of the licences.

Opposing the regulator, the advisers recommended trying to maximise the price for the licences.

The high auction costs for 3G licences to telecommunications companies in other European states is considered by many analysts to have seriously damaged European telecoms industry growth and global competitiveness.

The recent report of the Government's Advisory Committee on Information and Communications, comprising international industry figures, recommends keeping 3G costs low to turn the State into a global test bed for 3G applications.

The report also recommends the construction of local access networks managed by a public private partnership to spur broadband availability.