INTERNET
West of Ireland demands broadband
17-12-2002
by
The West of Ireland could be left behind the rest of the country if the government does not expedite the provision of cheap broadband, a new report claims.
According to the Western Development Commission (WDC), many areas in the West of Ireland do not have basic broadband services and that those that have connections are paying too much for them.
The WDC attributes the delay in broadband availability in the region to insufficient competition among telecom providers and claims that existing services are "generally poor" and come with high prices. DSL rollout in the West of Ireland is currently limited to Galway City and Ballina, although it will be rolled out to Westport, Galway, Athlone, Sligo by the end of January 2003.
Other broadband technologies, such as leased lines and ATM are more expensive for the West's dispersed population than in other parts of Ireland, the report notes, because telecom operators charge for the service based on the distance between the consumer's premises and the nearest exchange or point-of-presence.
In making its argument for cheap broadband, the report gives the example of ANU Internet Technologies, which moved to Galway City from Westport in County Mayo, when it realised that it would allow it to cut its communications bill from EUR33,000 to EUR22,000, while doubling its bandwidth. Stephan Wik, the managing director of ANU, said that a colleague in Germany pays just EUR16 a month for access to DSL, whereas Wik would have to pay EUR90 per month for the same service.
However, the authors of the WDC report have acknowledged that broadband availability throughout Ireland, and even in Dublin, is not meeting industry demands. In fact Esat BT executives have pointed out that conditions in the West are superior to much of the country, in so far as the per capita availability of broadband in the region west of the river Shannon is far higher than in the rest of Ireland. Furthermore, at EUR90 per month for access, DSL costs the same in the West as anywhere else in the country.
"Broadband access represents a tremendous opportunity for the West particularly," said Dr Pat O'Hara, one of the authors of the WDC report. "But the low population density of the region presents particular challenges."
Other demands in the WDC report include calls for the implementation of the government's directive to ComReg, the telecommunications directorate, to introduce flat-rate Internet access as a priority. The report also calls for increased public investment in wireless and satellite technologies, which are particularly suitable for more remote regions.
Finally, WDC recommended the decentralisation of state bodies and the deployment of the Republic's e-government strategy to improve the viability of broadband in the West.
The Roscommon-based WDC was established by the Irish government, to promote social and economic development in Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Galway, Mayo and Clare.
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