INTERNET
Eircom sets broadband triggers
11-02-2004
by
People in communities across Ireland can now go on-line to register their interest in broadband, and hopefully get connected sooner, under a new Eircom scheme.
The company said that under its new 'trigger' programme, individuals in towns and villages with fewer than 1,500 people can express interest in ADSL through the Eircom Web site. The company said that if expressions of interest in a particular town match a pre-set 'trigger level' -- ranging from 200 to 500 votes -- then Eircom will ramp up broadband rollout for that area.
Once a site hits the requisite trigger, the firm will add the town to its broadband infrastructure build programme, though it will still take between six months and nine months to build and install broadband in the area.
"We announced in December that we were rolling out broadband to every town in Ireland with a population over 1,500 by March 2005," said Eircom commercial director David McRedmond in a statement. "Now we are extending that plan to include smaller communities throughout the country." He said that the trigger programme allows the company to prioritise demand and manage investment efficiently.
Currently there are 131 towns in Ireland that are broadband-enabled, hitting about 850,000 customers. Around 80 more towns are set to be connected by March 2005, although the former telecoms monopoly said that individuals in these towns may also go to the Eircom Web site and vote to have their communities prioritised for ADSL deployment.
The launch of the new scheme, which mirrors a similar initiative undertaken by British Telecom in the UK, comes as no surprise, with Eircom noting on several occasions over the last few months that a trigger-level proposal was in the works.
Still, Eircom's newest plan does follow on from recent moves by Minister for Communications Dermot Ahern, which have included plans to government-fund new broadband connections in many of the nation's smaller towns. Minister Ahern's proposal sparked criticism in some quarters, with opponents calling it and the government's 19 Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) a move by the State back into the telecoms business.
But such plans, if they go forward, could present a credible threat to future broadband revenues for Eircom, the main wholesale provider of ADSL in the country.
On Tuesday, the government launched yet another initiative to boost broadband take-up in Ireland, which trails behind other industrial nations in terms of broadband deployment and take-up. The Department of Communications' latest plan came in the form of a new Web site, www.broadband.gov.ie, that allows members of the public to enter their address to find out which broadband services are available locally, and which service costs the least.
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