3 Ireland win national broadband contract.
Wednesday, November 26th, 2008
3 Ireland win national broadband contract.
Three.ie or simply “3″ have won the government contract to provide broadband which will connect the unconnected in Ireland. This is one part of the national broadband scheme. The department of communications reckon that circa 10% of Ireland is outside of any broadband coverage. This does not address however much of the remaining 90% which can avail of broadband of low speed, high contention and very high cost.
The system to be used by “3″ is their own HSDPA 3G solution. There are critics (as with all systems) but my experience of this system (I have limited experience of using it on the move) suggests that while it is obviously inferior to cable it is at worst very usable, not expensive for general browsing and simple to configure to the point of being almost self configuring.
One of the benefits of using the service in isolated areas (where it worked) was the lack of contention due to low user numbers in said areas. This must be a concern as any success in increasing uptake numbers will increase contention.
The communications minister, Eamon Ryan has been quoted as saying broadband availability is ‘central to our economic recovery.’ It is a clear case of fattening the pig the day before the market (maybe even during the bidding) but any progress is welcome. The lack of urgency with which broadband availability, speed and contention has been addressed has been a great cause of confusion amongst business people for some time. Broadband has the power to assist with decentralisation, reducing the rush to under serviced cities and allowing green, sustainable enterprise to flourish in rural areas.
I have looked for information on subsidies, scope and time-lines for this contract but have failed to find anything clear-cut regarding any of these questions. I will add or track-back when further information becomes available.
All in all, this is good news. A plan is in place. A suitable service and provider have been identified and selected. The deciding factors regarding the success of this contract will be the level of service, the strength of support, the extent of the subsidy and the passing on of this subsidy in full to the consumer.
We hope this gets more coverage for all the right reasons.
