Dublin Wifi
Dublin City Council (the 21st Century version of the Corpo) is considering setting up a Wifi to cover Dublin. Really? Apparently it'll only cost between €10-€20 million. A snip, but presumably it'll cost something to run annually on top of this. Anyway, The Telecoms and Internet Forum (TIF) are already whining that this government interference and stifling competition, that it could quote "damage broadband take-up in Ireland". Riiiiiggght, because broadband takeup has been going so well recently. Let's remember that in Dublin 15% of people still aren't able to get Broadband. That's in Dublin the capital city of one of the richest countries in the world. Meanwhile you may as well abandon hope if you are part of the 42% unable to get DSL in Connaght). I happen to be one of these unlucky Dublin 15%. I live in Glasnevin in the "Dublin Central" administrative area (so obviously getting DSL is out of the question).
Anyway, what is so wrong with covering Dublin in Wifi? What is wrong with having free basic access? It is not like the incumbents are doing such a stand-up job. You can't get Broadband all over Dublin and the customer service of the incumbents really do leave a lot to be desired. Well here's something to think about. If we think of broadband access as a basic utility like gas, electricity or water, there are two basic things we should recognise:
- The move over the last 20 years in UK and Ireland has been to privatise these utilities. This competition has undoubtedly led to cost-savings in some areas (gas, electricity ) but real structural problems in others (water). To take them out of government hands and provide competition.
- If Dublin City Council are providing a new utility, that costs X million to run each year, who will be paying for it? Eventually, if this is utility model, wouldn't we get a bill. What's the business model? Advertising based?
posted by Fergal @ 10:46 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hi Fergal, I read your blog on the WIFI-ization of Dublin. As usual things happen in the big city first, and then MAYBE elsewhere on the island. I live in a "remote" suburb of Innishannon, County Cork, and it took me 8½ years to get from a creeping dial-up to Broadband, no thanks to any of the telecoms in Ireland, who concentrate on the populous areas of big cities tp invest any infrastructure. Now I have a wireless broadband service. It is a bit pricey, but at least I don't have the agonizing task of watching the little blue bar crawl across its path. The idea of getting anything via this high-speed link is absolutely exciting. I recently downloaded some software called Satellite TV for PC, and it works well after a little bit of buffering. It is almost like watching real TV. So I was more than a little interested to read about Joost, which I imagine will have a very bright future. I would surely like to try it myself, since the guys that are pushing it are darn good at what they do. There is no reason why I should have to have three satellite dishes and a Chorus antenna on my roof to see more than the three or four terrestrial stations available in "poor old Ireland".
rwaldman@iol.ie
Post a Comment
<< Home