State must act on chronic broadband problem

By now, just about anyone with a pulse realises that the State has a big, big problem in the broadband department. For a while, it was swaggering around, acting as if it did not have some serious performance difficulties. But before long, nearly everyone was moaning that they were left unsatisfied.

Now, it's one thing to keep this embarrassment local. That's what happened for a good long while - the stream of technology companies into the State, its good economic performance and the slow roll-out of broadband services internationally meant we didn't seem to be all that far behind. In addition, some good initiatives on both the public and private side looked as if they would prime the broadband market, creating both demand and, as a result, supply.

But that, of course, did not happen. Our broadband performance problems no longer seemed a feature of an adolescent stage of our brisk economic development, but a serious and longer-term concern.

Then the problems went very public. Assessments by international bodies of the Republic's broadband capabilities began to point out that we weren't exactly doing the business (in any way, shape or form). Perhaps the low point came a few weeks ago, when the OECD declared we were in really dire straits - ranked 27 out of 30 OECD countries in terms of broadband development. The only countries below us are Greece, the Slovak Republic and Turkey.

According to the report: "In the first half of 2001, there were no commercial high-speed internet access services in operation in Ireland, using DSL or cable modems."

The largest cable television network in the Republic is owned by NTL Communications. NTL has yet to launch high-speed internet access.

"Cable networks pass around half of all households in Ireland and these networks hold the potential to be upgraded for high-speed internet access. However, due to Eircom's relatively late deployment of DSL, there had been little competitive pressure for the launch of cable modem services.

"In mid-2001, the telecommunications regulator said there was substantial unmet demand for broadband services in Ireland. ODTR (The Office of the Director for Telecommunications Regulation) stated that its plans for alternative infrastructure and local loop unbundling are intended to help alleviate this unmet demand. The need for this action is reinforced by Eircom's launch prices for DSL being among the most expensive for this service in the OECD area."

But the State has all the fixings for transforming this situation, if it is brave enough to do what some other nations have already decided to do - put some responsibility for fair and adequate broadband infrastructure development into Government control rather than trusting private development alone.

Sweden has done this. After watching telecommunications firms drag their feet and bicker over who had rights of way for infrastructure projects, the Swedish government put a fibre network in Stockholm (www.stokab.se). This state-of-the-art network was made available on an open-access basis to all service providers.

Therefore, service providers do not have to factor in the build-out of their own networks - giving smaller operators a foot into the market - and can get network access relatively cheaply. Thus, consumers and businesses benefit because service providers compete at the service level. Getting rid of massive infrastructural overheads nicely removes the primary service delivery bottleneck and cost concerns of service providers.

The project was so successful that it has been expanded to the whole country.

New Zealand has a similar network (www.citylink.co.nz), as does the Pacific northwest in the US (www.noanet.net). Although the state funds and oversees much of the initial network operation, the operators themselves gradually buy into it and can eventually carry the responsibility of some or all of the management.

So why not here? The Government has a similar, exciting opportunity to get a national broadband network - one that would benefit consumers, businesses and citizens - into place at low cost. But it must take control of some existing, underused State resources, build out some pieces of network in a supportive public-private partnership and link it all together.

The first key piece of this network is already out to tender, and 12 bids have been received from various groups to put it in place. This is the Atlantic Broadband Corridor (ABC), a network that would likely run from Kerry to Derry and weave along the coast, touching most major towns and villages along the way.

On the east coast, a second key piece of the network would be the North-South digital corridor, which would link Belfast to Cork. An obvious project for the North would be to get a Derry-Belfast corridor in place as well.

Then all of this could be connected into the existing, but unused, CI╔ signalling network, which is composed of fibre. This runs along much of the existing train network and touches most major settlements in the State.

Because the network is in the form of a number of branches radiating from Dublin, it would need to be connected up to form a circular network that would always offer digital signals an alternative route if a line were inadvertently cut somewhere.

If this network, now circling the entire State as well as the North, were then connected to Global Crossing's transatlantic and European fibre network, and to the unused 360network's transatlantic cable, the State would truly have a top-class network offering very low-cost broadband connectivity to home users, small businesses and big corporations.

Because so many elements are already in place, such a network could be completed by the end of next year. And many advocates feel it could be done for under £100 million (€127 million), due to the steep drop in the cost of infrastructure hardware.

Why not?

klillington@irish-times.ie