The Irish Broadband experience

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• The Irish Broadband experience
• Gary Healy
• Director Market Development

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Broadband in Ireland Agenda

• Where are we now?
• Availability a major issue - multi-platform
  approach
• Local Loop unbundling
• Regional Survey trends
• Initiatives for national coverage

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Broadband Penetration in the EU
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Broadband versus Narrowband

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Large growth in number of Broadband Service
Providers
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Take up and growth by platform

1 Other Broadband includes Satellite and Fibre
to the Premises broadband subscriptions
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PC users / Internet / Broadband
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Take Up of Broadband since DSL Launch
This chart includes a projection of penetration
at year end 2006 at 500,000 subscribers
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Broadband Pricing in Ireland Over Time
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EU Pricing Comparisons
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Broadband in Ireland Agenda

• Where are we now?
• Availability a major issue - multi-platform
  approach
• Local Loop unbundling
• Regional Survey trends
• Initiatives for national coverage

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Government Initiatives AvailabilityMANs
Under the 1st Call, 34 projects were approved, to
provide a broadband service to 38 communities,
with a combined population of over 36,000 people.
20 towns. Under the 2nd call, which was
officially launched in January 2005, 119 projects
have been approved to date, representing an
investment of 12.4 million in 445 communities
covering a population of 355,000 people 90
towns.
Source DCMNR
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DSL availability has improved- but challenges
still remain
In April 2006, 83 of lines were connected to a
broadband-enabled exchange in line with the
OECD average
Source OECD
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Alternative Platform growth
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Cable availability NTL and Chorus
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Fixed Wireless Access Broadband

• Fixed Wireless Access
• FWA is an alternative access platform for
  broadband access, particularly in rural areas
• Enabling alternatives to DSL and Cable
• Promoting innovation and competitiveness within
  the sector.

• As of March 06
• 120 licences.
• 11 operators
• 55,000 subscribers

Fixed Wireless Broadband is the fastest growing
broadband platform in the market
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Wireless Use
Note The USA has over 700,000 broadband
subscribers. Wireless broadband connections are
falling in Japan, Portugal and South Korea.
Analysys commented recently Broadband wireless
technologies offer further potential for closing
the gap between services available in urban and
rural areas but are not without problems. In
France, Neuf Telecom has stopped promoting a
fixed wireless service offered in 32 towns and
cities, while in the UK wireless operator Mesh
Broadband ceased trading in April 2005, despite
receiving funding assistance from a local
development agency. WiMAX promises increased
capabilities in terms of speed and distance but
the interdependence between these two variables
will affect its ability to address the needs of
rural communities. Commercial considerations
which have caused existing wireless technologies
to be marketed primarily as mobility solutions
and have confined them to niche segments of the
fixed access market will also influence WiMAX
roll-out.
Source Analysys
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Other Broadband Platforms

• Fibre 2 operators are deploying fibre in
  greenfield sites- Smart Telecom and Magnet
  Networks. They have 2,000 subscribers and
  13,000 homes passed according to IDate
• Satellite Viable alternative particularly in
  rural areas BT has used satellite technologies
  in Northern Ireland where DSL was not available
• WLANs BT, eircom and Bitbuzz have all rolled out
  hotspots across Ireland. Eircom launched recent
  initiative with Chambers Ireland -24 towns Wi-Fi
  enabled so far.
• 3G mobile Currently 3G delivers speeds of around
  284Kbps. However a number of mobile operators are
  planning to launch High Speed Downlink Packet
  Access (HSDPA) services in 2006.

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Broadband in Ireland Agenda

• Where are we now?
• Availability a major issue - multi-platform
  approach
• Local Loop unbundling
• Regional Survey trends
• Initiatives for national coverage

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Development of Local Loop Unbundling in Ireland
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LLU Benchmarking
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Broadband in Ireland Agenda

• Where are we now?
• Availability a major issue - multi-platform
  approach
• Local Loop unbundling
• Regional Survey trends
• Initiatives for national coverage

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User Trends in Broadband Business Residential
Split
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Regional trends in Residential Internet usage
ComReg surveys indicate that ABC1s and
Dublin-based households are more likely to have
broadband.
Source Amárach Consulting, CSO
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Broadband in Ireland Agenda

• Where are we now?
• Availability a major issue - multi-platform
  approach
• Local Loop unbundling
• Regional Survey trends
• Initiatives for national coverage

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National Broadband Scheme (NBS) Overview

• Oct 05 Minister CMNR announced intention to
  bring forward a scheme to address broadband
  provision in areas currently unserved
• Being led by DCMNR with assistance of ComReg
• Steering Committee and Working Group established
  and actively engaged in scoping and design of
  scheme
• Tenders for technical, economic and legal
  expertise underway and expected to be completed
  end Feb (OJEU)
• Intention is to run an open competition/tender
  for provision of broadband services in un-served
  areas where State will part fund.
• Seeking to provide product broadly equivalent to
  entry level product available in market - 1Mbit
  service with associated QoS guarantees.
  Upgradeability important.
• Expected to commence competition in June

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National Broadband Scheme current activities

• Meetings held with representative operators to
  signal intentions and to get views
• Open to industry to decide most economically way
  of providing service so will be a technology
  neutral tender
• Engaged in mapping exercise to identify where no
  broadband service providers. Intended to consult
  with industry and regional bodies to corroborate
  indicative maps
• Likely to include requirement on winning
  tenderer(s) to also provide wholesale equivalent
  encourages competition
• Likely to be a single national contract

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• Any Questions?