The announcement of new measures to improve our telecommunications infrastructure may not attract the attention of, say, a major new job-creating project. But the decision to link the Republic into a telecommunications network spanning the globe - and to build links to allow this network to be accessed from most regions of this State - is a move which could help pave the way for many thousands of jobs in the years ahead. The new international telecommunications link being built in a joint venture between the Government and US firm Global Crossing will - to use the jargon of the industry - provide a broadband link to the rest of the world. What this means is that the Republic will have a telecommunications infrastructure which will allow very large volumes of traffic - and of data in particular - to be transmitted.
The cable will link from the CityWest park off the Naas Road in Dublin to Global Crossing's international network, providing a connection to the US, to all the main European cities and to a network which will eventually span the globe. Nine contracts are also being awarded to extend the broadband infrastructure around the State, linking 120 different towns and cities in 21 counties. Why are these links important? For one, they will help pave the way for a new generation of businesses based on e-commerce - or business on the internet - and assist the efforts of IDA Ireland to attract major players in this area to Ireland. These businesses require advanced telecommunications links, which they rely on to transmit the large volumes of information around the world. However it would be a mistake to look at e-commerce as merely one new area of business. Use of the internet is becoming more and more important in many areas of business. It is increasingly used in the dealings which businesses have with each other and the public will be attracted to use e-commerce more and more in the years ahead. It is no exaggeration to say that e-commerce will revolutionise many areas of business. The Tanaiste, Ms Harney, referred yesterday to forecasts that the international internet business will be worth $3,000 billion annually by 2002. Whatever the precise figure, e-commerce will become central to strategy in many businesses and it is vital that we have the infrastructure to benefit.
The Government has made significant steps to prepare the economy in this area. A special international advisory group was established by the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke , the telecommunications market was liberalised and the state agencies are now targeting this area actively. Much will now depend on the ability of private enterprise to exploit the opportunities provided. Ireland already has leaders in a number of fields in e-commerce and we are well placed to build on our success in this area. But the challenge from increasing use of the internet will be pervasive, providing an entirely new set of competitive issues for companies in almost every sector.