If you think back to 2003 there was a national disconnect when it came to the relevance of broadband, then a nascent enough technology before the advent of Facebook and YouTube and smartphone devices which have gone on to take over our lives.

Lack of understanding led to lack of imagination or inspiration. Hence no vision. The joke at the time was that politicians thought broadband was a 1970s showband and even esteemed telecoms regulators opined that the average citizen would never require more than 1Mbps or 2Mbps.

Zoom forward to now and the harsh reality is that if you don't have an internet connection you won’t be able to apply for a job in today’s economy, pay your motor tax online or make video calls to your farthest yet dearest via Skype to Australia. Companies like Apple and Amazon won’t employ Irish people to work from home in today’s economy unless than have at least 10Mbps connectivity and Irish firms’ ability to export depends on being able to transact and communicate at an equivalent level to their counterparts in Asia and the US.

Dithering and delay tactics during the boom years meant that little or no investment in fibre occurred when the nation had the cash (very few schools were built either) and the investment instead had to be made during straitened times.

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said as much during a visit to Ireland, and was scathing about the broadband mess Ireland found itself in. Schmidt said at the time: "You are behind on fibre to the home and you guys are late with respect to 4G rollout. France, Germany and the UK are already ahead of Ireland with respect to citizens and businesses connected to the internet. You just need to do it.

“There are many things that the Government can do, but the thing is it is hard to work with telecoms providers to get more broadband. But these are the roads of the future. There are very few things that are better use of your money that serves the citizens of your country."

The consensus view of organisations such as the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Development (OECD) - two of the world’s most reputable economically-focused intergovernmental bodies - is that faster broadband and specifically fibre optic networks are a very good thing for any economy.

One recent World Bank study of 120 countries found that for “every 10-percentage-point increase in penetrations of broadband services, there is an increase in economic growth of 1.3 percentage points.” Other research by McKinsey & Company similarly concluded a 10 per cent increase in broadband household penetration produces a rise of 0.1 to 1.4 per cent in GDP growth.

Booz & Company meanwhile suggested countries that have higher broadband penetration rates have achieved up to two per cent higher GDP growth than those with lower penetration rates.

A new dawn

Eircom is past the first hurdle on its €1.5bn plan to connect 1.2m homes to fibre by the end of 2014 with 300,000 or so homes now capable of being served with speeds of up to 70Mbps. Cable broadband provider UPC recently passed the 1m customer milestone and can serve 41pc of homes in Ireland with speeds of up to 150Mbps.

In the ensuing months 4G mobile broadband speeds will arrive enable computer and smartphone users to achieve wireless speeds theoretically up to 70Mbps in 70pc of populated areas across the land.

So things are finally looking good, right? Not necessarily.

Ireland Offline chairman Eamon Wallace argues that it would be dangerous to think that this progress can mean we can rest on our laurels. He also believes we need to avoid making the mistakes of the past in relying too heavily on wireless 3G connectivity to join the dots.

Wallace says Ireland should look at the example of Finland which declared internet access to be a legal right, enforcing telecoms operators to actually provide services rather than use “best effort” regulations to allow digital divides to emerge.

“Now that the excitement of the ‘eFibre’ launch is over we can see the launch of fast broadband has demonstrated the latent demand for decent broadband across the State. VDSL is delivered via fibre to the cabinet and finally copper to the user. VDSL is merely an interim step to what should be our ultimate goal: fibre to the home.

“The launch mostly touches on urban and semi-urban areas. Do we abandon rural users to their fate of being ‘not economically viable?’ If we were to undertake the electricity rollout of the last century would that have been abandoned partway through as ‘not economically viable?’

“We should learn from the lessons learnt in our countries most notably Finland and Estonia.”

One of the key issues is that Ireland will have to rely on European structural funds to deliver next generation infrastrcuture where telecoms operators fear to thread - aka where there is no business case for them to do so.

But the problem is the European Union’s decision in February to chop €7bn off the €9.2bn earmarked to meet the Digital Agenda goals of 100Mbps for half of Europe could impact on countries' ability to deliver on these targets in rural areas. European broadband projects had been counting on the €9.2bn digital part of the Connecting Europe Facility.

Wallace argues that Ireland's policymakers should be making use of the fact that currently experts employed by Eircom and other operators who are in the country right now to help implement the current fibre rollouts should be consulted to evaluate how the last 400,000 homes can be reached by fibre in a cost-effective, but technologically future-proofed way.

“The National Broadband Plan (NBS) should be to deliver fibre to X kms of every citizen (X = 10km/20km) and fixed wireless or other (better) technologies for the last kilometers if we are to approach the Digital Agenda for Europe obligations,” Wallace said.

He said that it is being increasingly whispered that the balance of the population can be served, in data terms, via 3G/4G LTE, that is, by an ‘over the air’ mobile wireless technology.

“Mobile is simply not suitable(for a number of technical reasons) to deliver the stated objective of a guaranteed 30Mbps to every citizen. Most of the country is too densely populated ( even in rural areas) for 4G to deliver reliable data communications. There is a built-in decrease in throughput as simultaneous connections multiply.

“The NBS ‘experiment’ shows that it's impossible to guarantee even 3Mbps, or even a reliable data connection, on mobile. The only areas suitable for 4G are probably remote valleys, National Parks and small islands offshore where the population density is low. Even then topography may limit the effectiveness.

However Fixed Wireless can deliver a minimum 10Mbps and much more cheaply than 3G/4G and 30Mbps more expensively and that only with a 60GB to 120GB data cap to customers that are out of reach of fibre,” he said.

It has been argued in the past that if Europe failed to invest in fibre it faces the danger of becoming an economic back water. Ireland worked very hard to shed that particular tag over the years.

Luckily, in Ireland's case, lack of vision and understanding has been replaced by a genuine effort to provide the country with the infrastructure it needs to be an economic force. And the achievement yesterday by Eircom in getting this far has to be given its fair dues.

But Wallace is absolutely right. We can't enable some communities and leave others behind. The time for experimentation is over and we have to work with what we know will work.

The digital age is an age of promise and every household and business no matter where they are located deserves to be able to participate. And it calls to mind the economic philosophy of Sean Lemass: "A rising tide lifts all boats."

Road ahead image via Shutterstock

So the dust has settled a little and we may hope that a new era in broadband provision will begin in Ireland, whereby the kind of speeds that are taken for granted in most civilised countries will be available in more places in Ireland than simply large towns and cities.

Eircom’s fibre plan involves an investment of more than €1bn and will in turn enable other operators to use the network to sell services to consumers and businesses.

The first phase, which went live yesterday, will serve about 300,000 homes, rising to 1.2m homes by the end of 2014.

Eircom's eFibre will offer download speeds of up to 70Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps. The service will start at €40 for consumers and €24.79 for businesses. Eircom yesterday began taking orders from customers in areas where the next-generation broadband services are available.

Fibre-powered broadband speeds are available to 300,000 homes and businesses in Clare, Donegal, Dublin, Galway, Limerick, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Sligo, Wexford and Wicklow. 

However, this will still leave large swathes of the country – about 400,000 homes – that won’t be served by fibre services at the end of 2014 and this is where the Government will need to deliver on its promise to have a minimum of 30Mbps services available to all homes and citizens by 2015 and meet EU Digital Agenda targets set for 2020.

Platform competition becomes a reality in Ireland

In the meantime, you could say that Ireland is finally about to get a taste of 21st-century style broadband competition their counterparts in most European, North American and Asian countries have enjoyed for a number of years already.

Operators who up until now provided DSL services based on their own unbundled exchanges (LLU) and the resale of services off Eircom’s network (bitstream) will be able to compete in some way with UPC, which as a cable broadband provider has been able to ramp up speeds as high as 150Mbps.

UPC recently revealed that 41pc of homes in Ireland (1.65m homes) can receive speeds up to 150Mbps.

What the other operators will be offering

The new broadband services from Eircom can best be described as fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which means the fibre goes all the way to the street level with the last part of the journey of data from the cabinet to the home being by copper wire.

One of the original investors in LLU was BT, which exited the consumer broadband market a few years ago after forging an agreement with Vodafone which took over the DSL business.

The company works with other operators in the market on the infrastructure level and has been urging the Government to pursue the gap-funded model that has made Northern Ireland the most fibre-dense region of Europe, ahead of Germany, France and the UK.

A spokesperson said it will be offering services based on access to Eircom’s new fibre network following careful testing.

“BT is planning to launch this product to our wholesale and business customers, subject to the completion of a successful trial to ensure this product is fit-for-purpose for our customers,” the spokesperson said.

Vodafone, for its part, will go live on Monday with new fibre-powered services where users will be able to choose standalone fibre-powered broadband or a combination of phone line and broadband packages. Packages will start from €30 per month and will come with speeds of up to 70Mbps.

Vodafone Ireland consumer director Marcel de Groot said customers will be able to upgrade from Monday at no extra cost and that various discounts will apply for new and existing customers.

Packages start at €30 for 20GB broadband usage at speeds of up to 70Mbps, €35 for unlimited broadband usage and speeds up to 70Mbps and broadband packages with mobile, landline and international calls starting at €40 rising to €47.50 and €55.

“Customers can now choose from a range of new fibre-powered broadband packages,” de Groot said.

“You only pay for what you need and most packages come with unlimited broadband usage. Keeping the plans simple allows the customer to be in control, choosing a plan that fits their needs without compromising on quality or speed.”

Magnet will begin offering its new Fatpipe broadband services, which also provides up to 70Mbps services, to an initial 250,000 homes with a further 250,000 homes that will be passed later this summer.

As well as the VDSL services, Magnet also offers pure fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services to around 28,000 homes that can get up to 100Mbps speeds.

The advent of FTTC competition from Monday has been welcomed by Magnet CEO Mark Kellett.

“Magnet fully embraces Eircom’s national network upgrade. It’s a really positive step for the Irish broadband market as it will offer a more consistent, reliable and high quality network to a greater percentage of the population.

“For Magnet, the upgrade extends our reach and allows us to provide a high quality service of ‘fibre all the way’ to more consumers and businesses nationwide - close to 80pc of homes in Ireland by the time it’s finished in 2014.

“Magnet is currently the only alternative telco offering services on Eircom’s fibre pilot in Sandyford, Dundrum and Wexford. We’ve been engaged from the outset in the development of this service and leveraging the experience we’ve gained in deploying fibre networks in Ireland and the UK,” Kellett said.

Other operators, including Digiweb, Sky, Imagine and others are likely to reveal their bundles and packages in the coming days as platform competition based on fibre networks finally becomes a reality in Ireland.

Broadband image via Shutterstock

Eircom is rolling out next-generation broadband systems that will bring fibre as far as the street with existing copper lines carrying the higher-speed data into the home or business via what’s known as VDSL.

The plan is to have 1m homes passed by the end of 2014 and Eircom recently revealed it is extending its coverage to 1.2m homes.

In late August or early September, Eircom will also launch its first 4G services.

At Eircom’s headquarters in Dublin this morning, Taoiseach Enda Kenny, TD, launched the new network, which Eircom calls ‘eFibre’.

eFibre will offer download speeds of up to 70Mbps and upload speeds of up to 20Mbps.

The service will start at €40 for consumers and €24.79 for businesses. Eircom will begin taking orders from customers in areas where the next-generation broadband services are available.

The company said there will be an unlimited download allowance for all eFibre products above the entry level.

Existing Eircom broadband customers who qualify will be able to upgrade for free to eFibre, which will require a new type of modem, which will come free.

“This is the first in a series of announcements that will demonstrate how Eircom is offering customers fast, reliable and competitively priced products,” said Kevin White, consumer managing director at Eircom.

“No one else can offer a triple play bundle with eFibre, home phone and eMobile, and we won’t stop there, as we move towards introducing Ireland’s first quad-play service.”

Eircom claims eFibre is the only fibre, voice and mobile triple play offering in the market today.

For home customers, bundles with unlimited off-peak local and national calls prices start at €40 for 50Mbps and 30GB usage, €45 for 50Mbps and unlimited usage and €55 for 70Mbps with unlimited usage.

Triple play packages with home phone, fibre and mobile voice and data prices start at €55 for 50Mbps with 30GB and €70 for 70Mbps with unlimited usage.

Business products start at €24.79 for 30Mbps with one static IP address, €40 for 70Mbps and eight static IP addresses and €65 with up to eight static IP addresses.

“The speed and reliability of eFibre allows businesses to work faster, more efficiently and manage their costs effectively,” said Eircom director of SME David Walsh.

Fibre image via Shutterstock

The merged entity will have a combined workforce of 200 and annual revenues of US$78m. The combined group generates operating profits exceeding US$10m annually.

Investors in Viatel, including Morgan Stanley, are rolling their investment in Viatel into Digiweb Group and are investing additional equity to fund the introduction of new services.

Viatel has invested US$1.5bn in constructing a low-latency 8,500km fibre network connecting 34 European cities.

Dublin-headquartered Digiweb will now deliver an extensive range of managed voice and data services over metro fibre networks in 12 of Europe’s largest cities and financial centres and at 185 points of presence over wholly-independent fibre in eight countries.

In addition, the expanded network also operates two diverse submarine cables and connectivity to Ireland, the UK, continental Europe and close proximity to African and Asian fibre landing stations.

Challenging the status quo

The expanded group’s carrier and wholesale business will operate under the Viatel and VTLWavenet brands, while the enterprise and retail business divisions will trade as Digiweb.

As part of the merger, Viatel CEO Lucy Woods will join the board of Digiweb.

Digiweb was founded by its CEO Colm Piercy in 1997 and in 2012 he was named Ernst & Young Industry Entrepreneur of the Year. The company provides multi-site MPLS data networks, IP and traditional voice services, as well as data centre services to enterprise, wholesale and government sector clients.

“We see a strong opportunity for cross-border consolidation in the telecoms sector in Europe in parallel with the explosion in high bandwidth connectivity demand, and this transaction is the first step in positioning our group to take advantage of those trends,” Piercy said.

“Digiweb has always had a philosophy of challenging the status quo and we plan on stepping that up following this marriage of Digiweb’s entrepreneurial culture with Viatel’s service and network excellence, and the combined expertise of our enlarged team,” he said.

The RedC survey of 1,500 consumers nationwide on behalf of ComReg examined access and satisfaction with household telecoms services.

There is still some confusion around broadband speeds in the Irish market, with 50pc of consumers completely unaware of the broadband speed they are receiving.

This is probably due to the marketing wars being played out in newspapers and on TV daily by the various broadband providers, raising questions over the advertised broadband speeds versus the speeds customers receive at the end of the day.

ComReg commissioner Kevin O’Brien confirmed this morning that ComReg will launch an online facility later this year for measuring and publishing broadband speeds across a range of platforms experienced by consumers.

“This initiative will provide greater clarity to consumers in relation to the real broadband speeds received,” O’Brien said.

The news was welcomed by alternative broadband provider Magnet Networks. Magnet CEO Mark Kellett said: “For years we’ve been calling for greater transparency in broadband advertising so we welcome this planned new online facility from ComReg.

“Not only will it help customers make a more informed decision when choosing a broadband provider - one that’s not blinded by advertising and marketing rhetoric - it will also ensure a level playing field for providers in a market that’s overrun by confusing messages.”

The survey found that mobile phone services are the most commonly accessed telecoms services in Ireland at 97pc, while landlines continue their decline at 69pc.

TV ownership stands at 95pc, followed by laptop ownership at 75pc and 54pc of those surveyed carry a smartphone device.

Some 53pc of Irish consumers access Sky for their TV services, followed by 29pc using UPC and 9pc using Saorview digital terrestrial TV (DTT) services.

Household access to broadband now stands at 78pc, including mobile broadband access and access via smartphones.

A third of the consumers surveyed are accustomed to making video calls via services like Skype or Google+ Hangouts.

Irish telecoms: value for money?

In terms of satisfaction with the services provided, 77pc said they were happy with their landline service and 76pc said their mobile phone service was satisfactory.

In terms of choosing telecoms services, consumers in Ireland rank cost and quality as the most important factors when choosing a service.

More than 50pc now pay for bundled telecoms service, with 65pc of consumers living in urban areas opting for bundles.

In terms of the kind of bundles consumers access, triple play bundles of TV, broadband and phone services are still at a nascent stage, with the majority of consumers accessing mostly phone and internet bundles.

O’Brien said the survey’s findings reveal value for money is top of the list for consumers when seeking a telecoms service.

“Household broadband access is now relatively high at 78pc and it is evident that a majority of people regard broadband as a key part of their working, social or educational lives.

“The survey shows that speed of service is ranked highly by consumers when choosing a service,” O’Brien said.

The technology, which operates in the millimetre-wave Ka bands for cellular communications, will provide data transmission up to several hundred times faster than current 4G networks, Samsung said.

A high-speed 5G cellular network requires a broad band of frequencies, much like an increased flow of water requires a wider pipe, Samsung said.

However, it has been long believed that the millimetre-wave bands had limitations in transmitting data over long distances due to its unfavourable propagation characteristics, the company said.

The adaptive array transceiver technology overcomes these limitations, according to Samsung, as it transmits data in the millimetre-wave band at a frequency of 28GHz at a speed of up to 1.056Gbps to a distance of up to 2 kilometres.

“The adaptive array transceiver technology, using 64 antenna elements, can be a viable solution for overcoming the radio propagation loss at millimetre-wave bands, much higher than the conventional frequency bands ranging from several hundred MHz to several GHz,” Samsung said in a statement.

The company said it plans to accelerate its R&D of 5G mobile communications technologies in order to commercialise them by 2020.

Mobile communications image via Shutterstock

Viber Desktop integrates with Viber mobile apps, allowing a user to transfer calls from a desktop to a mobile with a tap, while also syncing his or her messages and conversations. The beta desktop apps also allow users to send and receive video calls to other Viber Desktop users, as well as voice calls and text messages to Viber users across all platforms.

This now widens the cross-platform reach of Viber, which has already got iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry and even the lesser-spotted Sybmian and Bada covered in the mobile space.

Having reported 140m users at the end of last year, Viber now claims 200m users in 193 countries. To maintain its worldwide reach, support for eight new languages has also been added, bringing the total to 27.

Major updates have also been made to Viber for Android, iOS and BlackBerry.

Facebook and Twitter log-ins have been integrated across the web as they allow users who have already registered for one or the other to sign up and log in to additional services with minimal effort. This is now how users in a Bitbuzz Wi-Fi zone will be able to access these hotspots and, no, the service will not tweet what you’re browsing or post your internet history to your timeline.

Bitbuzz claims that users’ rights remain paramount and that their data will be protected. “This new departure for Bitbuzz has been developed to meet user demand,” said Bitbuzz operations director Alex French. “We are constantly trying to make it simpler and quicker to get online, while still complying with Irish and UK data-retention laws.”

Bitbuzz has more than 430 Wi-Fi hotspots across Ireland and further expansion is planned for this year. The service reported more than 1m registered users at the end of 2012, marking a 46pc increase.

The big question now is when will the first 4G services arrive? All the operators are watching each other warily in terms of price bundles and launch dates, but the general consensus is the first 4G services will launch in Ireland in the late summer or early autumn.

Operators have made lots of noise about the potential speed increases consumers will enjoy, ranging in theory from 70Mbps up to 160Mbps.

If the experience of Everything Everywhere (EE) in the UK is anything to go by, consumers in Ireland may only see speeds of between 10Mbps and 20Mbps in locations where 4G is available.

The auction process has been no doubt lucrative for the exchequer yet it’s important to bear in mind that Ireland’s 4G licences only cover locations where 70pc of the population of Ireland lives. Not only that, when the first services launch later in the year, cities are likely to receive them first.

ComReg, Ireland’s telecoms regulator, awarded Eircom (Meteor), Telefónica and Vodafone lots in the 800MHz, 900MHz and 1,800 MHz frequency bands, while Hutchison 3G Ireland received the 900MHz and 1,800MHz frequency bands.

While the marketing boffins at the various telecoms companies will be chomping at the bit to sing the virtues of their respective 4G offerings, the tricky part for all of them will be to manage expectations and ensure 4G doesn’t suffer the same hype curve as 3G.

The 3G services arrived in Ireland in 2002 but it wasn’t until 2006 when 3G dongles became widely available, and 2007 when the first iPhone launched that 3G began fully delivering on its promises.

One of the unexpected benefits of the 4G spectrum auctions for the Irish consumer is that it will lead to more 3G coverage around the country where it wasn’t available before. This is because the various operators competed for spectrum in the 800MHz and 900MHz bands, spectrum made available from defunct 2G networks and the switch-off of the analogue TV signal in the autumn.

Recently, Vodafone switched on the first locations in Ireland, in north Donegal, where areas capable only of voice will now have 3G broadband services. Vodafone Ireland’s recently appointed CEO Anne O’Leary said that by the middle of May it will switch 2G to 3G in Waterford and other parts of the south-east.

Tony Hanway, CEO of Telefónica, who operates the O2 brand in Ireland, believes the arrival of 4G will improve 3G speeds by up to a factor of five in certain areas.

“The new spectrum that the operators obtained allows improvements in 3G coverage and 3G speeds, as well,” Hanway said.

“It will be exciting for Ireland Inc because it is going to allow Irish people to enjoy much faster speeds and to do things on the move that they hadn’t been able to do before.”

Hanway also said 4G will help bridge the digital divide and help coverage in rural areas, especially areas where, in reality, fixed broadband is just not going to penetrate.

However, he said one of the potential stumbling blocks for when 4G eventually arrives could be a shortage of affordable handsets for consumers. At present, the only LTE-ready devices in the Irish market are high-end, expensive phones, like Apple’s iPhone 5, Samsung’s new Galaxy S4 and the HTC One.

“In reality, there are far more 3G handsets out there than LTE-enabled devices,” Hanway said. “The 4G roll out will commence in 2013 but this is obviously going to be somewhat curtailed by the fact that the roll out will take some time and handset availability is going to be building from a low base.”

Vodafone, which paid ComReg €160.8m up front with €119.7m following up to 2030, acquired by far the largest portion of the spectrum available.

In Vodafone’s case, acquiring all the spectrum bands means it can bolster its 4G offering potentially beyond the 70pc of population coverage. Where it won’t offer 4G it will nevertheless provide a spread of 3G (speeds of up to 21Mbps maximum) services.

Fergal Kelly, Vodafone chief technology officer, emphasised the importance of the near-universal spread of 3G to rural areas.

“Wherever there are only voice services today there will be broadband services in the coming months,” he said. “The thing that people need to realise about 4G is that it’s an evolution, not a revolution, to the next step in technology.”

In terms of the speeds consumers will experience, Kelly said there will be a need to manage people’s expectations and operators will need to be clear about when and where the new services will be available.

“What 4G will bring is four times the download speeds and up to 10 times faster upload speeds. Theoretically, consumers could enjoy download speeds of 100Mbps and 35Mbps upload speeds but in reality the key word here is latency – the roundtrip that data makes through the networks – and four times faster downloads and 10 times faster uploads is what the 4G experience promises.”

Kelly said the roll out of 4G will involve Vodafone replacing old 2G and 3G equipment with more advanced 4G equipment across several hundred base station sites around the country.

“We are being circumspect about what 4G will offer,” said Kelly. “Because it is a stepping stone to future speeds and services, we need to make it clear that at first the public will start to see 3G broadband speeds available everywhere where there was 2G voice and we intend to keep on that message rather than hype the 4G evolution.”

Kelly said Vodafone has placed about €1bn into its network throughout the recession and as part of this upgrade the company will invest another €500m into its network.

“It is ultimately a question of investing where you will get a return,” he said.

Kelly also said that after the 4G auctions, it is likely that in order to keep pace with consumers’ demand for more data at higher speeds, Ireland is likely to see further spectrum auctions in two to three years’ time.

“It is likely that another spectrum auction for spectrum in the 2.6GHz will be necessary in a few years because the network operators will need to install greater amounts of base stations within smaller areas to cope with data demand.”

Returning to the kind of experiences that consumers can expect when 4G eventually arrives late in the summer, David Hennessy, the chief technology officer of Hutchison 3G Ireland, said sustainable speeds of 15Mbps to 20Mbps will be typical in most cases where 4G is available. Peak download speeds of up to 160Mbps could be possible, depending on how many people are in the cell network at the same time.

“I think data has become integral to people’s lives and compared with when 3G first arrived people are depending on getting data delivered to their smartphones and tablet devices on the move,” Hennessy said. “4G will make it more efficient for operators to deliver the kind of speeds consumers will need to enjoy video, and latencies will be more efficient.”

Elaine Robinson, Eircom’s director of next-generation technology, said one of the key differences between when 3G arrived 10 years ago and when 4G eventually arrives this year will be the fact that people will already have an appetite for high-speed data.

“More than 50pc of the population of Ireland now carry smartphones and so we expect that the demand will be there, unlike when 3G first arrived,” she said.

Robinson said mobile operators will need to communicate clearly what 4G will do for consumers.

“You’ll never be able to guarantee a speed with radio, that’s physics. It will depend on how many people are on the network, who is doing what,” she said. “In a fully-loaded environment where everybody is using their smartphone to send photos, watch videos and more, the range of a consistent 10Mbps to 20Mbps is emerging as the benchmark.”

The one thing that requires focus, Robinson said, is the experiences 4G will enable.  “What we envisage when 4G arrives is an experience closer to what consumers get with DSL broadband today,” she said.

What consumers can anticipate, Robinson said, is being able to enjoy more things, like video and online gaming on the move.

“We see 4G tying in with our plans for fibre rollout and we have aggressive rollout targets for 4G as we have for fibre,” she said.

A version of this article appeared in the Sunday Times on 5 May

Global network image via Shutterstock

The ASAI has instructed the telecoms company to make it clear and identify where products are limited to next-generation broadband (NGB) exchanges.

A customer made the complaint to the ASAI after his broadband speeds plummeted from 7Mbps down to 1Mbps after he opted for a new NGB bundle.

He was told that because he did not live in a NGB-enabled exchange area he could not avail of the advertised bundles and as a result was automatically placed on a bundle that was available in his area but at a lower speed.

If he wanted to return to the broadband speed he previously enjoyed, he would have to fork out for a more expensive bundle priced at €55 per month.

The consumer complained that the advertising was misleading as it did not state that the bundles were only available in a NGB-enabled area.

Eircom said 73pc of lines in its exchanges could avail of NGB, meaning 27pc of consumers cannot avail of the broadly advertised bundles.

Eircom also admitted that of its existing customer base, 65pc were within an NGB exchange area.

The ASAI complaints committee studied the situation and said it was concerned that the advertising did not indicate that the bundles were only available to NGB-enabled lines.

In addition, there was no indication on the Eircom website of what alternative products were available to consumers outside of NGB areas, given that 35pc of Eircom's customers are not within NGB areas.

The ASAI has ruled that the advertising must not be used in its current form and where products are limited to NGB exchanges they should be clearly identified as such.

The deal will enable Scot-Tel to deliver superfast broadband services via wireless spectrum to schools and other council properties across the Aberdeenshire region of Scotland.

Digiweb operates an extensive 10GHz network in Ireland and the UK using UK-based Ogier Electronics as its preferred microwave transmission solutions supplier.

Ofcom awarded Digiweb a number of frequency blocks in the 10GHz range suitable for the development of point-to-point and point-to-multipoint high-speed networks.

The spectrum is ideal for development of backhaul networks, as well as the roll out of regional backhaul networks.

“We welcome Ofcom’s innovative decision to permit spectrum trading in this frequency band, which does allow for a more efficient use of the spectrum,” Digiweb CEO Colm Piercy explained.

“Digiweb is very happy to enter this agreement with Scot-Tel-Gould, which will enable new services be launched in Aberdeenshire to service local needs.

“Multiple requests have prompted us to consider opening spectrum leasing, and we’re happy to consider any further request, once these don’t overlap our own deployments,” Piercy added.

Wireless broadband image via Shutterstock

O’Leary, the first Irish person to hold the role of Vodafone Ireland CEO, said she competed for the role against executives from all over Europe.

She said Vodafone has invested €1bn in its Irish network during the past few years of recession and that it will be investing a further €500m in the coming years to bring 3G data to 2G voice areas, as well as providing 4G across the country.

Late last year, ComReg awarded 4G spectrum licences to four mobile operators: Hutchison 3G, Eircom (Meteor/eMobile), Telefónica Ireland (O2) and Vodafone.

Vodafone, which paid €160.8m up front with €119.7m following up to 2030, acquired by far the largest portion of the spectrum available in the 800MHz, 900MHz and 1,800MHz ranges.

“Being Irish and from Cork I am committed to what we need to do,” O’Leary said on what was her first formal public engagement as the new CEO of Vodafone Ireland.

“In terms of investment, we go and we battle for our bits of investment and I’m proud to say that nearly €1bn worth of revenue has been invested in the network. The feedback we get from customers is that it’s grand having the latest devices but they need to get work done. I personally feel responsible for Ireland and I want to help Ireland progress and we can do that by having the best network.”

One of the upshots of the spectrum licences is mobile operators like Vodafone will be able to take advantage of the former 2G and analogue TV spectrum (800MHz and 900MHz) to bring 3G broadband services to areas that previously were unable to access 3G mobile data.

“Today we are going to switch on three sites in Donegal with UMTS 900. By mid-May, we will do the same in Waterford and the south-east.

“Anywhere there is voice now you will get data. Most of the handsets out there are 3G and we want to make sure that prepay and postpay smartphone customers can experience the best and the fastest networks.”

O’Leary said 4G services will launch in the autumn. “We are going to launch 4G first in Kilkenny and we will roll it out in the larger cities of Dublin, Cork, Waterford and Limerick after that.”

She said consumers today are seeking tariffs that aren’t complex and the recent introduction of the RED price range has been the most successful consumer launch in the company’s history.

“We want to get away from misunderstandings around mobile tariffs and instead offer services that make it simpler for customers and which build loyalty.”

Vodafone launches new Enterprise Customer Solutions division

O’Leary pointed out that in recent years Vodafone acquired InterFusion Networks and Complete Telecom and has invested a total of €25m locally to expand its capabilities in the fixed-line space.

This is also in tandem with Vodafone’s global acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide, which will give the mobile operator’s business customers access to an international network footprint.

Vodafone’s new Enterprise Customer Solutions (ECS) division will be responsible for designing, delivering and supporting complex integrated telecommunications solutions for business customers, making it easier for customers who can now have a single provider for all their telecommunications requirements.  

ECS will provide services such as managed WAN (IPVPN), cloud and IP PBX, systems integration and security solutions in addition to the company’s complete portfolio of mobile data and solutions. The department will be led by Steve MacNicholas, founder of Interfusion Networks.

“Vodafone is now a truly integrated telecommunications provider for Irish businesses and our ability to combine mobility with fixed infrastructure is our key differentiator,” MacNicholas said.

“We have invested significantly to build our expertise in this space, and we will further enhance our nationwide network to bring data to all areas that currently have voice and also bring 4G services to market,” he added.

The consortium, consisting of Alcatel-Lucent, Vodafone Group, Dialog Axiata, Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), Reliance Jio Infocomm, Omantel and Telekom Malaysia, will build the Bay of Bengal Gateway (BBG) cable system to connect Oman, the United Arab Emirates, India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The value of the contract has not been disclosed.

The BBG is to strengthen and enhance the reliability of connectivity into and out of the countries via landing points in Singapore; Penang, Malaysia; Ratmalana, Sri Lanka; Barka, Oman; Fujairah, United Arab Emirates; and Mumbai and Chennai in India.

Commercial operation of the system is expected to begin by the end of next year. It is expected to offer an ultra high-design capacity to accommodate the growth of services and applications in the countries linked by the BBG.

Edward West, chairman of the BBG Interim Procurement Group, said the BBG will be a step change in capacity on its route. 

“This system will be able to address the fast-evolving expectations of our customers in line with their demands,” West said.

Connectivity image via Shutterstock

Rabbitte said the entire media sector in Ireland is going through a period of “destructive change”.

However, despite the effects of Ireland’s economic decline on the media sector, it is now in a time that can be described as a perfect storm, where the sector is being reformed and reshaped.

Rabbitte cited the rise of online media and said online advertising in Ireland is now worth €150m a year and is growing at a rate of more than 12pc per annum.

Despite this, the changes that are hitting traditional media are happening faster than the rise of online revenue, with newspaper circulations falling dramatically.

RTÉ has taken €100m worth of cost cuts and reduced staff by 400. And even in the midst of the perfect storm, independent television station TV3 has invested in a new HD studio.

“But make no mistake; the television market in Ireland has changed completely,” Rabbitte said.

“There are now 34 channels of advertising sold in Ireland, up from seven a decade ago, and when taken together with the entirely value for money-driven approach of the advertising industry today, it is difficult to see revenues – and either price or volume - returning to anything like previous highs.”

Rabbitte said a five-year review of funding for the country’s public service broadcasters is due to land on his desk in the coming weeks.

He also said that when it comes to sustaining the media sector in Ireland, there are few levers available to the Government.

But when it comes to preserving the plurality of media, commercial radio stations play a critical role and the regulatory framework for the sector is being kept under continual review.

Internet saves the radio star

Rabbitte said that while commercial radio may seem more robust than other media sectors, this should not blind the sector to the challenges that are coming.

“Digital Audio Broadcasting – or DAB – looks very much like a false start, even if there were a market rationale for it in the Irish market.

“No, as with so much else, radio is ultimately going to have to go online. It may take awhile; there are a lot of FM radios out there, in cars, or on window sills around the country. But there are relatively few new radios sold, certainly relative to the number of smartphones or other connected devices, and that is where the audience is going, not just for radio or TV, but for everything.”

Rabbitte said this is only the start of what could be a long process of convergence.

“This term ‘convergence’ when applied to media doesn’t just mean the simple fact that you can now watch television or listen to the radio on your phone – the implications are far deeper and wider than that.

“In time, it will likely come to refashion media entirely as the relationship between content owners, distribution networks and audiences change.

“For example, it is possible to see a future where the role now played by television broadcasters, who effectively create or aggregate content and then distribute it, is played instead by a differentiated set of media.

“Some bodies, like sports rights holders, for example, may choose to stream and sell content themselves, offering it across multiple platforms for a share of the revenue, or perhaps just offering it to the market themselves.”

Rabbitte returned to his perfect storm analogy and said the changes wrought by online cannot be ignored.

“The trick, in so far as there is one, is not to try and stop them, or pretend that they are not happening, it is to ride that wave, to use all of the tools that are available.”

Internet radio image via Shutterstock

Data centres with low power costs and France’s central location as a final destination for international subsea cables carrying internet traffic between the US and Europe is driving demand for high-capacity bandwidth and low latency solutions connecting Paris.

Demand for data centres in Paris - a hub for banking, commerce and telecommunications - is experiencing double-digit growth as enterprises migrate to the cloud, according to Sea Fibre Networks.

The Paris Equinix Internet Exchange is an internet exchange in France, providing peering services to more than 200 customers. The demand for cloud and on-demand services from the technology sector are expected to contribute to its growth.

Designed to provide a reliable and scalable end-to-end network from Ireland to Paris, this link leverages Sea Fibre Network’s alliance of communication providers under one service level agreement.

“We are excited to connect into this burgeoning cloud economy,” said Diane Hodnett, Sea Fibre Networks’ CEO.

“In 2014, we will reinforce this solution by creating a robust, resilient loop of sub-sea connectivity with FastnetConnect – a submarine network connecting Ireland to mainland Europe via Paris. Sea Fibre Networks’ strategy is focused on uniting terrestrial and submarine networks comparably and will construct key subsea infrastructure where lacking.”

The technology uses gaps in radio spectrum, called white spaces, which exist between frequency bands. In this instance, these bands have been reserved for digital terrestrial TV broadcasting and wireless microphones.

Use of these white spaces will allow devices to transmit and receive wireless signals for applications, such as broadband access for rural communities, Wi-Fi-like services or new ‘machine-to-machine’ networks.

White-space technology use wireless signals that can travel large distances and easily through walls, making it suitable for a variety of consumer applications, including doubling the range of Wi-Fi, as well as M2M (machine-to-machine).

Ofcom is inviting industry to take part in the pilot, which is intended to take place in the autumn. The locations for the trial will be chosen once trial participants have been identified.

Following a successful completion of the pilot, Ofcom anticipates that the technology could be fully rolled out during 2014, enabling the use of white-space devices across the UK.

White-space technology will be one way of meeting the growing demand for data in the UK. Ofcom is separately planning to free up more spectrum in the future for the next generation of high-speed data services, already dubbed 5G.

In February, Ofcom raised stg£2.34bn from its auction of 4G mobile spectrum. The UK government had hoped that the auction would have raised stg£3.5bn for the Treasury.

Under Ofcom’s plans for white-space technology, a TV white-space device will not be able to start transmitting until it gets clearance from a database qualified by Ofcom and listed on a dedicated Ofcom website.

This database will provide updated information on where the TV white spaces are and the power level that devices would need to be restricted to if they wanted to use them.

This will help ensure there is no undue interference with the existing spectrum users.

Economic opportunities could arise from white spaces

In Ireland, the debate around using white-space technology to resolve deficiencies in broadband policy has yet to really take off.

Last September, we reported how tech industry giants, like Microsoft, and academics are urging the country to take advantage of a huge economic opportunity in the form of white spaces, which could be used to double the range of broadband in rural and urban areas.

In September, the CTVR telecoms research centre at Trinity College Dublin brought together ComReg, the Department of Communications and various businesses to hear from companies that had taken part in TV white-space trials in other countries.

An organisation called White Spaces Ireland has been established and includes Microsoft, Imagine, e-Net, HEAnet, Spectrum Bridge, Neul and Taoglas among organisations interested in getting the ‘white spaces’ ball rolling in Ireland.

Wireless networks image via Shutterstock

The extension will meet the growing bandwidth requirements of multinational companies operating across Cork’s ICT, pharmaceutical and financial services sectors.

It follows Colt’s completion of a new low-latency route between Dublin and London last year, a key component of a multimillion-euro, five-year programme of investment by Colt across Europe.

Now fully operational, the additional connectivity allows both indigenous and multinational companies to deliver information at fast speeds between Cork and mainland Europe through Colt’s 43,000 km dedicated network, which includes direct connections to more than 100 European cities and 39 metropolitan area networks.

“Cork is an exciting place for Colt because of its substantial potential to grow as a hub for large multinationals, particularly in the well-established ICT and pharmaceutical sectors,” said Colt’s country manager for Ireland Ken Sherry.

“By extending our network to Cork, we’re making a strong statement of confidence in the region and its ability to prosper in the inward investment space thanks to its business-friendly environment and skilled workforce.”

“Requirements for data bandwidth continue to increase exponentially every year, driven largely by growth in data intensive applications. In Cork, many of the larger enterprises operating out of the region are truly global in nature, with operations spanning many European sites.

“This means the majority of the data network bandwidth involves traffic between Cork and other major European cities, such as London, Frankfurt and Zurich,” Sherry said.

Fibre connectivity is a spur for future investment in Irish cities and regions

Colt is already a supplier of high-bandwidth data services and backbone solutions into Europe for Irish-led multinationals, as well as multinational companies, such as global provider of audio and web meeting solutions PGi.

“Colt’s continued infrastructure investment in Ireland is a welcome development for PGi’s local operation in Clonakilty, helping us deliver the highest quality of integrated conferencing solutions to our customers around the world,” said Michael Palmer, PGi’s senior vice-president of operations for EMEA, Canada and India.

“This additional connectivity helps position Cork as a prime location for multinationals requiring a fast and robust gateway to Colt’s European long-distance network infrastructure to support our customers’ business needs. We see significant opportunities for future growth both in Cork and other key cities in Ireland and plan to continue to invest in our network to meet this demand.”

The Akamai ‘State of the Internet’ study ranked South Korea as having the highest average measured connection speed by country of a sustained 14Mbps, which was down 13pc year-on-year. This was followed by Japan with 10.8Mbps, Hong Kong with 9.3Mbps and Latvia with 8.9Mbps (up 20pc).

Among Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region countries, Switzerland boasted the highest average measured connection speed of 8.7Mbps (up 20pc), narrowly edging out the Netherlands, which had 8.6Mbps (up 3.3pc), the Czech Republic, which had 8.1Mbps (up 21pc), and Sweden with 7.3Mbps (up 29pc).

Ireland ranked 15^th globally and 9^th within EMEA, with average measured connection speeds of 6.6Mbps, down 6.8pc year-on-year.

Global average connection speeds rebounded in the fourth quarter of 2012, posting a 5pc gain growing to 2.9Mbps. Year-on-year, the global average connection speed grew by a healthy 25pc.

In terms of peak connection speeds - Ireland ranks 23rd out of 98 countries

The global average peak connection speeds – the maximum speed rates enjoyed by countries – increased to an average peak of 16.6Mbps.

Hong Kong enjoyed the fastest peak speeds of 57.5Mbps, followed by South Korea with 49.3Mbps and Japan with 44.8Mbps.

Within EMEA, Romania enjoyed the highest peak connection speeds of 42.6Mbps (up 20pc), followed by Switzerland with 34.1Mbps (up 33pc), and Belgium with 33.4Mbps (up 21pc).

Ireland was ranked 23^rd globally for peak connection speeds and 14^th within Europe, with a peak connection speed of 27Mbps recorded by Akamai in the fourth quarter, up 12pc year-on-year.

Ireland’s closest neighbour, the UK, achieved peak connection speeds of 30.5Mbps, up 44pc year-on-year. The UK had a global peak speed ranking of 15^th in the world.

Silicon Savannah

The Akamai report had a number of other revelations, including the discovery that distributed denial of service (DDOS) attacks had tripled during 2012, with as many as 768 DDOS attack being recorded.

But perhaps the most interesting is the emergence of new spheres of influence in the technology world.

It pointed to the emergence of a Silicon Savannah the African country of Kenya and quoted a Guardian article: “If there is such a thing as an African version of California’s Silicon Valley, the country that is arguably leading the race to the future is Kenya … Household tech names such as Google, Intel, Microsoft, Nokia and Vodafone all have a presence there and IBM recently chose Nairobi for its first African research lab.”

In Kenya, the government plans to build a US$7bn 5,000-acre technology city that has already been branded Africa’s Silicon Savannah.

The company this morning reported in its Q1 2013 results that it now has 166,000 postpaid customers – more than 53pc of its base, with underlying ARPU (average revenue per user) increasing by 2.2pc compared with the last quarter of 2012.

Postpaid smartphone penetration has grown 11pc to 82pc of EE’s total customer base, with non-voice revenue accounting for 51pc of total revenue.

EE’s plan to double 4G speeds

EE – an amalgamation of Orange and T-Mobile’s mobile networks in the UK – was the first mobile operator in the UK to go live with 4G services after having been awarded 36pc of the UK mobile spectrum market, including spectrum in the 800MHz range and the 2.6GHz range. It paid Ofcom stg£589m for its licences.

EE said 93pc of new and upgrading postpaid handset connections are smartphones of which 42pc are 4G or 4G-ready.

The company in recent weeks announced plans to double current average speeds to 20Mbps for new and existing subscribers and said lab test speeds are now reaching 130Mbps top speeds. The double 4G speeds will be introduced in the 10 cities where EE is operational by the summer, including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield.

EE said this morning it is on track to deliver 4G to 55pc of the UK’s population by June.

It said its network optimisation programme is continuing apace, with 548 sites decommissioned in the first quarter.

AirSpeed worked directly with Chill Insurance's other technology vendors, including its systems integration and contact centre software providers, delivering a new, 150-channel SIP voice service that underpins the contact centre and supports its significant outbound call volume.

Chill had been relying on a legacy copper network and ISDN voice system but a new licensed, wireless IP network is intended to give the insurance player better business continuity and the ability to scale up and down if needed.

Each of Chill’s two Dublin offices have been kitted out with dual 100Mbps links to the internet and a 1GBps link connects the offices to each other, supporting real-time failover in the event of an outage.

The new next-generation, multi-channel contact centre enables consumers to contact the company through a variety of channels, including social media, email and through the Chill Insurance website.

Chill receives more queries by Facebook than by email

Chill Insurance says it now receives more customer queries and contacts via Facebook than email. The company also plans to explore web chat options in the near future.

“Our reputation is built on being available to consumers all the time and through a channel convenient to them,” said Padraig Lynch, CEO of Chill Insurance.

“Our new network has automatic failover, and AirSpeed manages and monitors the network 24/7.”

Twitter may have hit the 200m monthly active user milestone by the close of last year, but Koum claims that WhatsApp is now serving more than that on a monthly basis.

At the start of this year, it was reported that the app had processed a record 18bn messages on New Year’s Eve, but since then it has surpassed even this holiday-driven total to 20bn messages processed on an average day.

Last week, WhatsApp quashed rumours that Google was seeking to buy up the company for US$1bn, and there have also previously been rumours that Facebook was eyeing it up for acquisition. However, Koum further put paid to such rumours at the New York City event, stating that the company is not entertaining any acquisition offers.

Founded in 2009 by former Yahoo employees Koum and Brian Acton, WhatsApp has seen more than 100m downloads across all platforms and allows users to send text, picture, video and audio messages one-to-one or to groups.

Earlier today, UPC announced plans to transition all of its existing broadband subscribers to a minimum of 50Mbps.

The importance of this step cannot be underestimated – it will have the cumulative effect of bringing the number of broadband subscribers on connections exceeding 50Mbps from 10pc of broadband subscribers to 30pc of broadband subscribers. An important psychological leap for a country that has been trailing international league tables.

Strong has previously indicated that if Ireland were to match UK levels of online transactions (8pc of GDP), the size of the digital prize for the Irish economy would be €12bn a year.

However, Rome wasn’t built in a day and Strong pointed to Amárach research that estimates Ireland can realistically grow the percentage of the economy dependent upon online commerce from 3pc in 2012 to 6pc by 2016.

“The total size of the digital prize is just under €12bn which is enormous for this economy.”

She said the first step is to get small-to-medium sized businesses transacting online. This does not mean brochure-ware websites, it means actually buying and selling goods via the internet.

“The UPC/Amárach research found that only one-third of Irish businesses actually transact online – that leaves 66pc that don’t.”

She also pointed to a CSO report that showed that currently there are 144,000 businesses active in Ireland that actually don’t transact online.

‘An extraordinary opportunity’

UPC Ireland CEO Dana Strong: digital economy could be worth €12bn a year to Irish economy 

Strong described the digital economy as a marketplace businesses interested in their actual survival can no longer afford to ignore.

“It’s quite an extraordinary opportunity when you consider that online purchasing is set to double over the next three years. So it’s a huge risk to Ireland’s economy if we don’t get Irish businesses transacting online.

“Over 50pc of purchases online from Irish households are made on websites that exist outside of Ireland and if this trend of online purchasing continues, more and more Irish consumption is going to end up going to international businesses,” Strong warned.

Dana Strong will be a panelist at the upcoming Digital Ireland Forum which takes place in Dublin’s Convention Centre at 8am on Friday, 19 April. For further information or to book your place, visit the event site.

UPC Ireland CEO Dana Strong said the company’s broadband customers who are on less than 50Mbps will be upgraded for free to the new entry-level speed. Users who require new modems to cope with the speed increase will be sent the latest modems for free.

The company’s sales and marketing director Mark Coan told Siliconrepublic.com that UPC’s next-generation set-top box code-named Horizon will arrive in the Irish market imminently.

But in the meantime, many of the capabilities of UPC’s Horizon platform – as they exist in the cloud –can be sampled on the company’s new iOS apps, as well as Horizon TV Online.

The new apps for iOS devices will enable users in households to enjoy more than 45 channels, including all the Irish and UK channels, as well as Sky News and Sky Sports, and rental movies and TV box sets.

When users go outside of the home network they will be able to access all the content, except the Irish and UK channels and the box sets due to rights agreements.

“Eleven per cent of all viewing is now on non-TV devices and we believe our apps address the requirements of families to allow viewing on a variety of devices throughout the home,” Coan said.

He said an Android version of the new apps will arrive in the summer.

The cable company has also launched a Horizon TV Online service that lets its customers access the 45 channels via their internet browsers.

UPC’s head of TV product Andy May said that across the browser app and the iOS apps, users will be able to interact with their set-top box at home and arrange for TV shows to be recorded and stored on their set-top boxes.

A first look at the new apps shows a serious amount of work went into user experience and it boasts a really cool wireframe feature that lets you select other channels while watching content.

A game-changer for the Irish broadband landscape

Returning to broadband, Coan explained that in the next two months, some 300,000 UPC broadband customers will receive or be offered a free upgrade to the new speeds.

Customers of 25Mbps and below will be upgraded to 50Mbps, while customers of 50Mbps and above will move to 100Mbps and 150Mbps speeds.

At present, just 10pc of Irish broadband users are on speeds of 50Mbps plus and following UPC’s speed increases that will expand to 30pc of all Irish broadband users on speeds of 50Mbps and higher.

Under the agreement, Samsung Electronics will be Three Ireland’s sole provider of LTE radio access network (RAN) and core infrastructure equipment, deploying LTE base stations and all associated systems and network support services across Three’s network nationwide.

“Following on from Three’s successful win of a strong 4G spectrum portfolio in the recent LTE spectrum auction, today’s announcement marks a further milestone in our 4G roll-out strategy,” said Robert Finnegan, CEO of Three Ireland.

Finnegan added that Samsung’s advanced network solutions will allow Three to offer speeds of up to 100Mbps to its customers using mobile broadband on smartphones, tablets and laptops. “Customers will start to see the benefits later this year,” he confirmed, and a service launch in Dublin is planned for August.

This will mark Samsung’s first commercial 4G deployment in Ireland and just its second in Europe, though the company has already partnered with dozens of mobile service providers in the US, Asia and the Middle East to implement 4G solutions. In 2011, Samsung Networks Europe was established to focus on growing its 4G business in Europe.

“Samsung is delighted to partner with Three Ireland to build the first Irish LTE network,” said Youngky Kim, executive vice-president and head of networks business at Samsung Electronics. “This contract will spur Samsung to accelerate our business in Europe.”

“Today, we’re pleased to announce with Mayor Lee Leffingwell that Austin, Texas is becoming a Google Fiber city,” Milo Medin, vice-president, Access Services, wrote on Google’s Official Blog.

“It’s a mecca for creativity and entrepreneurialism, with thriving artistic and tech communities, as well as the University of Texas and its new medical research hospital. We’re sure these folks will do amazing things with gigabit access, and we feel very privileged to have been welcomed to their community.”

Medin said Google aims to start connecting homes in Austin by mid-2014, and the company also plans to connect public institutions. Customers will have a similar choice of products as those in Kansas City, and prices are expected to be about the same.

“Communities that are connected to the internet grow stronger because there’s greater potential to create jobs, drive economic growth, and help businesses succeed,” Medin wrote.

“We believe the Internet’s next chapter will be built on gigabit speeds, and we hope this new Google Fiber city will inspire communities across America to think about what ultrafast connectivity could mean for them.”

While Cork is already an established technology hub with technology giants such as VMware, Trend Micro, IBM and Amazon, among others, with substantial operations in the city, most of Ireland’s data-centre activity and many of the next-generation internet company investments like Google, Twitter and Facebook typically veer towards Dublin.

Cork City and region are rightly proud of their technology heritage. Cork was the first location that Apple chose to locate in outside the US when it was a mere start-up back in 1981 and data storage giant EMC has been based at Ovens in Cork since 1988. Last year, Apple revealed a plan to create 500 additional jobs on top of the 2,800 already there and EMC has grown to employ 2,500 people outside the city.

But in an effort to bolster the city and region’s future fortunes, the National Software Centre in Cork has joined forces with Cork Internet Exchange (CiX), the only data centre in Ireland outside of Dublin, and Sea Fibre Networks to put in place the infrastructure that will put Cork on the map for future internet and financial services investments.

Two-part plan

There are two key parts to the plan. Firstly, Sea Fibre Networks is endeavouring to secure investment to fund a fibre optic subsea cable that would connect the city to France via Bule in Cornwall.

The second element of the plan involves CiX and the National Software Centre building what is known as a Wavelength Division Multiplex (WDM) network called Cloud Valley that would run over the nearby Metropolitan Area Networks in the city. Each and every business park, college campus and large building in the city would be a node on the proposed network.

Local ISPs can then distribute affordable high-speed broadband to homes and cities in the city and region.

Sea Fibre Networks last year landed subsea cable connecting North Dublin with Porth Darfarch in Wales. The 144-fibre network rolled out by Sea Fibre Networks is aiming to be a game changer, more than doubling the existing data capacity between Ireland and the UK. Last month, the company expanded its C-Fibre portfolio from the greater Dublin area to Frankfurt, via London.

According to Sea Fibre Networks’ CEO Diane Hodnett the company is awaiting a foreshore licence from the Marine Survey in Cork. That will enable the company to do a proper marine survey to determine the exact route the cable will take.

Once this happens, Sea Fibre Networks will be able to secure support from private equity investors to make the fibre gateway into Cork happen.

“We are looking at starting at Fountainshead in Cork because it has good seabed conditions and is quite close to the Cork MAN in Carrigaline. The cable will then go to Cornwall and from there connect with France where there are major international fibre hubs that connect with Europe, the US and Asia-Pacific networks.”

Hodnett said it is vital that this infrastructure lands in Cork because it would lead to greater diversification in data centre activity from Cork to Dublin.

“It means Ireland will be able to create a second tech city connected to global fibre networks, as well as connect with other southern cities like Limerick and to create smaller tech hubs in regional areas.

“For data centre providers having all of the infrastructure concentrated in one location – Dublin – isn’t ideal for security or electricity supply purposes,” Hodnett said.

Cost considerations

Another overriding reason to pursue the Cloud Valley plan is to bring down the cost of accessing fibre broadband for local companies, as well as multinationals.

“If the plan succeeds, Cork could become one of the best connected cities in the world and it will improve Ireland’s connectivity by an order of magnitude,” explained Jerry Sweeney, managing director of CiX.

“This means that we can exploit Cork as a connectivity gateway for future foreign direct investment (FDI) projects. Local FDI companies can benefit from more affordable connectivity and can become more entrenched in the region.”

The chairman of the National Software Centre campus in Cork Shemas Eivers explained that two resilient routing nodes have been built between CiX on the north-western edge of Cork and the National Software Centre on the other side of the city on the south-western edge.

“What these nodes enable is the infrastructure to provide data centre resiliency in the city between two points. If one point fails the other point picks up the slack.

“Our idea is to just build it and they will come,” Eivers went on. “Cloud Valley will act as an aggregator of internet traffic for the region and make it just as attractive to establish internet or cloud businesses in Cork as it is in Dublin today.”

Eivers conceded that Cork is also currently at a cost disadvantage for fibre connectivity compared to Dublin. “It is the right thing to do and it could be good for the region. If we start by doing something, by putting our money where are mouths are, then we can achieve a critical mass. We can start by using the MAN infrastructure to build up volume to negotiate a fair price for fibre connectivity.”

Organisations on side with the plan include ISPs Cork Community Broadband, Digiweb, Rapid Broadband, Ripple Communications, Airwave, East Cork Broadband, Premier Global Services, PM Group and social media consultancy Ahain Group.

Hodnett said the Cloud Valley plan could deliver the kind of infrastructure Cork badly needs and make it affordable for local businesses to join the digital economy and create jobs.

“It has the potential to absolutely transform Cork and the rest of the country from a business perspective,” Hodnett said.

A version of this article appeared in the Sunday Times on 7 April

Everything Everywhere (EE) said today it will also double current average speeds to 20Mbps for new and existing subscribers.

The double 4G speeds will be introduced in the 10 cities where EE is operational by the summer, including Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Sheffield.

The company says it is achieving lab-speeds in the range of 130Mbps.

EE is doubling the amount of 1,800MHz spectrum bandwidth dedicated to 4G from 10MHz to 20MHz.

EE CEO Olaf Swantee described the move as future-proofing its network for future capacity demand. He said EE is forecasting mobile data traffic to grow by as much as 750pc in the next three years alone.

“We are ensuring that the UK remains at the forefront of the digital revolution,” Swantee said. “Having already pioneered 4G here, we’re now advancing the country’s infrastructure again with an even faster, even higher-capacity network, and at no extra cost to our customers.”

Trials of the new technology in Cardiff are have already seen headline speeds reach more than 80Mbps. Once switched on, the improvements will be automatically available in those cities within existing plans for new and current 4GEE customers on all 4G smartphones, tablets and dongles.

Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa Telecoms & Media, explained that EE is working to differentiate itself from other providers due to hit the market this summer.

“By rapidly expanding both the coverage and capacity of its network, EE has taken the necessary steps to maintain and extend its advantage in the UK 4G market and, importantly, to leapfrog itself into a leading position in the European LTE market.

“EE’s strategy to focus on network investment as a point of differentiation is helping to build a world-class, high-quality digital infrastructure that will prove as vital to future economic growth as investment in the roads and railways,” Newman said.

The Netflix ISP Speed Index provides an easy overview of the performance of ISPs in several of the countries where Netflix is available.

Updated on a monthly basis, the site allows for easy comparison of ISPs in a country, as well as international comparisons. At launch, the Netflix ISP Speed Index includes data for the US, Mexico, Ireland, UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Netflix compiles its ISP Speed Index from more than 33m Netflix users who view about 1bn hours of TV shows and movies on their TVs, PCs, tablet computers, games consoles and smartphones.

Country-by-country comparison

1.              At 3.45Mbps, Google Fiber in the US provides the highest average Netflix streaming bitrate.

2.              In Sweden, OMNIT provides average streaming bitrates of 2.95Mbps.

3.              Finland’s KYMP provides an average streaming bitrate of 2.93Mbps.

4.              Denmark’s WAOO provides the highest average streaming bitrate in that country at 2.85Mbps.

5.              In Norway, GET provides an average streaming bitrate of 2.67Mbps.

6.              In the UK, Virgin provides consumers with the fastest average bitrate speed of 2.43Mbps.

7.              In Ireland, Magnet provides the highest average bitrate speed of 2.22Mbps.

8.              Lastly, Mexico’s CABLEMAS provides 2.03Mbps of average bitrate speeds.

Ireland

According to Netflix, across the board the average speed enjoyed by consumers is 1.89Mbps, compared with the US, where consumers enjoy bitrate speeds of 2.35Mbps on average, the UK, where consumers enjoy average speeds of 2.24Mbps, and Finland, where consumers enjoy bitrate speeds of 2.6Mbps on average.

Magnet topped the league table in Ireland, with a top bitrate speed of 2.2Mbps, followed by UPC with 1.8Mbps, Digiweb with 1.75Mbps, Eircom with 1.71Mbps, Vodafone with 1.68Mbps and Imagine with 1.56Mbps.

Ireland's mediocre performance in terms of broadband bitrate speeds is not a surprise to many of us who have been urging the country's leaders to take broadband infrastructure seriously as a policy issue that impacts employment, equality and exports.

We can only hope that with the eventual arrival of VDSL (fibre-to-the-cabinet) and 4G services in the coming weeks and months, consumers and businesses will be able to enjoy superior services that at the very least will be on a par with the international standard.

The company had been running bonded DSL over the last 24 months to handle the demand.

It is understood that the fibre services will be provided by Eircom and BT in Ireland and BT and Virgin in the UK.

Bitbuzz has Wi-Fi coverage in over 11,000 hotel bedrooms and claims to have 1m registered users across Ireland and the UK.

“Bitbuzz has been working hard to meet the need for hotels of all sizes,” Bitbuzz operations executive Alex French said. 

“For the last 24 months we have been offering Bonded DSL (which is a convergence of up to four standard ADSL lines) as a solution to meet increased Wi-Fi demand.

“This can increase downstream line speeds to up to 80Mbps and has been taken up by many of our hotel partners. This year we plan to roll out fibre-to-the-cabinet products (FTTC), which we believe to be the next generation in Wi-Fi solutions and which will deliver much faster speeds over short distances,” French said.

“(Two billion minutes is) enough time to travel to the moon and back over 225,000 times, walk around Earth more than 845 times or travel to Mars more than 5,400 times,” wrote Elisa Steele, the corporate vice-president who leads marketing for Skype, wrote on The Big Blog.

“Two billion minutes is a testament to our users, who are making Skype the everyday communications hub that brings people together,” Steele added.

“Whether making a voice or video call, sending an instant message, sharing a file or connecting with a group of friends, now more than ever before, Skype brings people together whenever they are apart.”