INTERNET
Broadband management firm sought
13-06-2003
by Andrew McLindon
The Department of Communications has put the management of the EUR65 million national broadband network out to tender.
An invitation for tenders for the national broadband strategy, which is aiming to establish broadband networks around 19 cities and towns, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Friday. Interested parties have until 15 August 2003, to submit tenders. The potential value of the tender is not yet known. It is expected that the winner of the bid will be announced in September.
According to the Department of Communications, the management company will be charged with managing and maintaining the network, as well as marketing it to telecos and ISPs.
A Department spokesman told ElectricNews.Net that the wholesale price for space on the network will be the same regardless of location. In other words, telecos will be charged the same amount for using the Cork city piece of the network as it would for using the Tullamore section.
The EUR65 million initiative is seeking to provide the 19 areas with high-speed Internet access. Each town/city will be circled by a Metropolitan Area Network (MAN), which customers will be able to plug into. It is hoped that the networks will facilitate the use of advanced Internet applications by local hospitals and schools, as well as by businesses and consumers.
The MANs for places such as Cork, Galway, Mayo and Limerick have been already been launched. The most recent roll-out announced was the 7,500 km network that will go around Athlone, Mullingar and Roscommon. The Department of Communications expects several of the MANs to be in place by the end of the year, with the remainder on-stream by around September of next year.
The project will involve the laying of 50,000 kilometre of fibre optic cable. Local authorities have been working with private contractors to install the network.
The strategy has not though been without controversy. Earlier this year, the South East Regional Authority (SERA) said it had been told that no funding would be available for the construction of its SERPANT network, which involves the cities/towns of Waterford, Kilkenny, Carlow, Clonmel, Wexford and Dungarvan. Following that complaint, the Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, TD, moved swiftly to assure SERA that work would go ahead on SERPANT in 2003. However, its completion date had to be pushed back from mid-2003 to the second half of 2004 because SERA did not receive the level of financing it had originally sought for 2003.
In addition, the original national broadband plan was to have involved 67 towns at a cost of EUR200 million. Budget cuts though meant that the towns not included in this round of funding will have to wait another couple of years before being brought into the network.
The project is 90 percent funded by the government and 10 percent by the EU.
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