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According to ALTO, the absence of a clear government policy on the development of telecomms is creating stagnation in the communications sector. The organisation, which is an Irish industry body for entrant telecoms, has called on the government to appoint a minister of cabinet rank to oversee the development of the telecomms sector, e-commerce and the Information Society.
ALTO is the representative association of licensed telecommunications operators in Ireland, representing the interests of companies such as Budget Telecom, Chorus, COLT, Cable & Wireless, Conduit, Esat, ESB Telecom, Meteor, Nevadatele.com, NTL, Swiftcall and Worldcom.
The industry pressure group says that the recently published EU Commission's 7th Implementation Report, as well as the ODTR's latest quarterly review, "provide clear evidence that the telecoms sector in Ireland is stagnating." The key issues highlighted by the EU Commission, which include high mobile call termination charges, lack of broadband infrastructure and inadequate local loop unbundling, are all issues which ALTO has repeatedly highlighted over the last few months, according to ALTO chairman Iarla Flynn.
Flynn cited a figure from the ODTR's report as an example of this trend. The report claimed that new entrants have lost market share in the fixed-line telecoms in Ireland market since the previous quarter, down from 21 percent to 20 percent.
Flynn and ALTO have called for "urgent action" in order to prevent Ireland from losing its focus with regard to its e-strategy. "In this overall context, a very clear government policy and regulatory strategy is required. This has never been articulated," Flynn commented.
He said the top priority must be to provide a clear legislative framework for the regulation of the sector and that the Communication (Regulation) Bill must be enacted as soon as possible. Flynn claimed that these two tasks are well within the power of the Irish government. With regard to these moves Flynn said, "We think there are certainly hard choices to be made, but there are some easy wins to be made as well."
ALTO also called on the government to implement a package of EU directives, recently agreed on by telecomms ministers across Europe, which are designed to encourage growth and competition in the market.
In order to see to it that these moves are implemented, funded and completed in a clear and timely manner, ALTO has called for the appointment of a government minister focused solely on these areas. "Our view is that a dedicated minister and department will be needed to allow significant progress to be made," Flynn said.
Flynn also told ElectricNews.Net that the supposed lack of focus by the government might be due to the cost of the rollout of broadband infrastructure. He explained that hype surrounding broadband in previous years led the government to encourage the rollout of the infrastructure, which subsequently proved to be a complicated and expensive procedure, leading to what Flynn alleges to be the government's current apathy.
ALTO's call for an e-Minister, is the second such demand in recent weeks. Earlier in December the Dublin Chamber of Commerce's E-Working Group made similar claims about the state of the Irish Telecommunications industry and said the country needed a powerful "E Tsar" if it is to fulfil its potential as world-class centre for e-commerce.
Making comments similar to those of ALTO, the Dublin Chamber of Commerce said that the country needs "distinct and visible leadership" in the field of e-commerce. A report from the group, which is headed by the chairman of Iona Technologies, Chris Horn, said this is necessary because Ireland is lagging behind other cities that are seeking to capture the status of leading e-hubs.
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