4 Real Broadband Alternatives
Irish Independent • Monday, 7 July, 2008
ACCELERATING DEMAND
In 2000, the words ‘broadband rollout’ entered
the English lexicon. Now the hard part is
boosting demand, writes MARIE BORAN
E
IGHT years later and “Various statistics paint a but straight into the home
our appetite for picture: in 2005/2006, the delivering triple-play services.
broadband remains market for digital content was As regards a broadband
strong but it appears worth roughly ¤50-70bn and roadmap, Kellett says Magnet is
we have just been then when you look at the looking at pushing out a
waiting to get connected. In forecasts for 2010, it is predicted 50Mbps offering into the
2006, there were only 370,000 to be worth around ¤140- marketplace – a statement of
broadband customers in 160bn.” intent as to where the company
Ireland but by 2007, this had A 24pc cumulative growth sees residential connectivity
surged ahead to 500,000. in digital media is the kind of going.
This year, we are looking at context we are operating in Ronan Gallagher, product
hitting the one million mark when it comes to the question manager for UPC, recognises
as digital media sees the of broadband demand, explains the two-tier broadband issue
consumer turning increasingly Kellett, who calls it ‘the but, like Kellett, says speed is
towards the web for all forms of unstoppable force’. the big issue driving demand.
entertainment. This figure “This unstoppable force is “A lot of debate in recent
indicates there are two coming down the tracks and if times has centred on
dominant issues surrounding operators don’t deal with it and broadband availability: the
broadband demand: people get fit for it, it is just going to number of broadband
‘This unstoppable force is coming down the tracks and if operators don’t
who are still waiting for access run them over.” customers and our broadband
and those who have been on There are several penetration rate within the
entry-level products for some technological factors driving country.
deal with it and get fit for it, it is just going to run them over’
time and now have a need for this demand for high-speed, “While I agree there are still
speed. high-quality broadband: the some issues surrounding
We are now looking at an move from the MP3 to MP4 availability, for the majority, a
Irish marketplace where media format and the large issue is the speed of sure how this will affect the kilometres away from the Another important player in spokesperson for Digiweb. broadband delivery are now
consumer broadband demand popularity of online content. connection.” speed of their connection. exchange they won’t get the alternative broadband “Digiweb currently offers appearing as important factors.”
is surpassing business demand The increasing spend in games, The majority of internet “The most important thing is advertised speed: it can be as provision is Digiweb, whose more connections over more With the growth of
for the first time ever. film and music had gone from service providers (ISPs) have the actual speed received – contention-free as you like.” products include metro, DSL platforms than any other Irish alternative infrastructure
“I look at what’s happening in ¤19-20bn in 2005 to ¤70bn entry-level products starting at ignore the marketing talk UPC, which has just and satellite. Digiweb says broadband provider, giving the presenting an alternative
the marketplace and 2008 is being projected for 2010. 1Mbps but Gallagher points out because while operators can announced a 20Mbps reliability is a key factor in consumer a real choice of to traditional DSL, consumers
going to be the inflection point Magnet has a robust fibre that customers soon start talk about a contention-free connection for ¤40 per month satisfying customer demands. broadband connections. now have a multitude of
in terms of business IP and infrastructure, ADSL2+, which looking towards upgrades when connection, ultimately it comes in areas such as Dublin, “People are depending on a Digiweb will continue to develop options for getting connected
consumer IP in that consumer is rolled out over incumbent they get used to this speed. down to technology that will Galway, Waterford, Limerick, broadband connection for technologies and expand its on many platforms such
IP is going to accelerate through Eircom’s copper LLU (local loop When it comes to shopping largely determine the speed the Cork and all other major online shopping, banking and independent infrastructure so as satellite, wireless and
and beyond business,” says unbundling), as well as a for this high-speed connection customer will receive. cabled towns, has built in everyday communication. more people can get connected mobile broadband, says
Magnet CEO, Mark Kellett. wireless offering. The company consumers will come across the “Take an advertised sufficient capacity to provide Broadband, therefore, is now in the near future. O’Hare – a recipe for feeding
“This is telling you something will end 2008 with 11,000 to issue of contention (how many contention-free DSL enough speed and is seen as a necessity rather than “The market is moving away the future, one million-plus,
and makes you think, ‘Hang 12,000 homes connected via others are sharing the same connection. If the customer is consistently monitoring for a luxury for Irish homes and from a sole focus on speed and broadband-hungry citizens of
on, what’s going on out there?’ fibre optic, not to the cabinet connection) and often are not more than a couple of quality, says Gallagher. businesses,” says Emma O’Hare, availability. Reliability and Ireland.
ARE YOU READY FOR THE IP TSUNAMI?
For the first time ever consumer data traffic will exceed
business data traffic. Magnet CEO, Mark Kellett, tells JOHN
Cable guy
KENNEDY firms that don’t prepare will struggle
U
SED to the broadband-based telephone
corridors of systems for SMEs.
power in Silicon “Many Irish businesses
Valley, whether employ between 20 and 50
Robert Dunn, CEO, UPC Ireland
it’s the hard iron people. How can they afford to
world of Sun Microsystems or employ a telecoms engineer to
the virtual world of Yahoo!, fix a problem if they can’t
UPC Ireland chief executive Robert Dunn tells JOHN KENNEDY that the
Magnet chief executive, Mark afford to have an IT person on
Kellett, believes in foresight. their staff who understands
future of broadband in Ireland can only be secured through higher
“Because I saw what went on Microsoft Exchange or is an IP
in the research labs of both telephony expert? There’s an
Sun and Yahoo!, I have always opportunity for firms to take
speeds at lower prices
had the conviction that the risk out of their organisation
world is facing an IP [internet and pass it onto us.”
protocol] tsunami.” Kellett says he sees future
IMITS are the kinds of things “We looked at all the markets in Europe “The key thing is about creating a Kellett points to some hard revenue growth for Magnet
L
UPC Ireland boss Robert and decided that if we can deliver on competitive marketplace. We’re bringing truths the world will need to not only from the solid
Dunn expects but does not speed then we can deliver on price.” competition to the marketplace. We’re adjust to very soon. 2008 will Mark Kellett, CEO, Magnet business customer base but
necessarily tolerate. From his Dunn says the new speeds are just the also rolling out telephone networks and mark the year that consumer from both the residential and
vantage point he can see the start. “We could actually unleash more working hard on our upstream abilities. demand for data over IP from a fibre perspective. good.” On the latter point, public sector demand for fibre
innovations his parent company Liberty than this. Our current technology brings By comparison, and as a result, we are networks will exceed the Magnet, with its fibre assets, Kellett says the company communications.
Global are driving in other countries – us to the edge of a technology called growing our market healthily compared amount of data consumed and has a great opportunity moving invested in a customer “What’s challenging for
such as 100Mbps of broadband in Japan Docsis 2.0. There’s another technology to the DSL marketplace.” exchanged by businesses. This forward. management system enabling Ireland is how far behind the
or video-on-demand in the Netherlands. called Docsis 3.0 that we are starting to Dunn is confident the move to 20Mbps is thanks to services like “While traditional telecoms it to ensure every call is curve it is in terms of
The fact Ireland is 25th in the OECD’s deploy in the Netherlands and this will uncapped broadband will enable UPC YouTube and the growth in companies struggle to figure answered within 20 seconds. broadband. But there is public
broadband speed league galls him take us to 100Mbps within two years, to stand out from the crowd. “We’ll keep popularity of social networking. out their core strengths, they “Inbound calls have fallen interest out there from people
because it’s happening on his beat. which we already have in Japan.” investing in our network to boost As video on demand, should really be looking at dramatically. Most of our who want to pay their motor
“There are mobile broadband providers Enabling this is a massive ¤600m performance and continually train our personal broadcasting and web shifting their mindset to boost customers are business people taxes online, to more
in the Irish marketplace promoting upgrade of UPC’s network in Ireland. employees. Many were used to working TV become the norm, the consumer experiences. This is who use our service to handle demanding users who want the
broadband but not delivering on the According to Dunn, UPC has upgraded in in a one-way transmission network, now question is can the world’s an ideal opportunity for mission-critical infrastructure latest digital entertainment.”
speeds they promise,” he points out. all of the main towns of Ireland as well it’s a two-way network.” telecoms services handle the Magnet, which can do many and in the business world In terms of the public sector,
“That’s fine, because for some people as smaller towns around the country, In terms of the business world, the exponential spike in traffic? things beyond just providing a responsiveness is critical. If Kellett says Magnet has done
mobile broadband is better than nothing. and is trialling Docsis 3.0 in a small town increase in speeds will prove attractive A survey by Cisco, which pipe or phone service. your web is down, you need to deals with Offaly, Westmeath
But what we’re saying is in the home outside Dublin. and UPC has already established its charted the rise in digital “When I took over the helm get an answer quickly. and Laois county councils.
you want real speed and the ability to The company has also enhanced its pedigree in this market: “We currently content, said the world’s data of Magnet last October, my “This is pivotal because “Over 100,000 people work in
transmit massive amounts of data. overall offering to include not only triple serve 10 of the biggest hospitals in traffic will reach seven exabytes first move was to enhance we’re entering a world where local government and when
“That’s where cable infrastructure play – including voice, broadband and Dublin with a 100Mbps fibre connection. this year. To put this in context, the skillsets in the organisation, telecoms firms will be you think about carbon
comes into play,” says Dunn. “In Ireland, television – but also next-generation TV But we want to improve on this. At one exabyte of data would cost especially on the management providing customers with footprint and the national pay
we have the same strategy as in all our services such as digital video recording present, hospitals are paying ¤1,000 a US$200m to store. This is the bench. We then identified our voice and data over one line – plan, flexible working is the
markets – to increase speeds, remove and next year will introduce high- month for a 2Mbps DSL connection, equivalent of two billion DVDs. strategic priorities in terms of you need the best support and answer. Being able to work
data limits and go farther than our definition (HD) services. whereas we can give them 20Mbps for By 2012, the world’s data product superiority.” engineering to keep you up from home one day a week
competition.” In terms of broadband rollout, Dunn ¤40 a month.” traffic is projected to rise to Kellett believes there’s and running.” would reduce carbon footprint.
This is no idle promise. This month says UPC is two thirds of the way through A significant advantage UPC Ireland 44 exabytes. something of a race to the Kellett says the business A planning file containing
UPC, which is the parent company of its overall upgrade plan, with cities like has is the international breadth of R&D Magnet Networks is owned bottom in terms of quality and world is moving inexorably cartography and 3D drawings
cable operators NTL and Chorus, will Cork and Limerick and towns like it can delve into. It has an R&D centre in by US investor Ken Petersen price in the Irish broadband towards managed services and is over 200MB – on one of our
roll out a new 20Mbps broadband service Thurles and Kilkenny 100pc enabled. Amsterdam and Liberty Global’s original who bought the transatlantic market today with operators Magnet is now offering fibre optic connections that
for just ¤40 a month to meet demand for Work in Navan, Sligo and Portlaoise is cable labs are in Denver. cable assets of 360 Networks charging less and less and at businesses the choice of hosted file would take only a few
higher speeds. well under way. “From next year, we’ll be investing in after the technology crash in the same time delivering or on-site PBX infrastructure. seconds to download.”
“We’re also going to remove the data But it could go further. “We are looking DVR and HD TV, so we’ll be putting a lot 2001 and established Hibernia speeds at only a fraction of This can help firms reduce Kellett says digital content
limits on certain products. We’re moving at alternative wireless technologies that of horses in the starting box. We have Atlantic. The latter network what they advertise. costs by 20pc to 30pc. will keep rising and this digital
our speeds from the current 1Mbps, would work with our cable infrastructure video on demand already successfully will form a central artery in this “Enhanced infrastructure is To boost its skills in this area, tsunami will hit firms with even
6Mbps and 12Mbps to 3Mbps, 10Mbps to deliver a multi-point microwave deployed in the Netherlands and high data volume future. Magnet’s game. Our mission is Magnet earlier this year bought more force than consumers. “If
and 20Mbps. Our 3Mbps service, which distribution system. This will put wireless Switzerland and intend to bring all these “Ken Petersen showed the to prove our products are a voice over IP firm based in you haven’t invested in the
costs ¤20 a month, will have a 20GB cap backhaul into our network to expand services to the Irish market. foresight to invest in a very futureproofed and that the the Digital Hub called Glantel. right infrastructure, you’re
and the next products for 10Mbps and our coverage and allow for two-way “The Irish consumer will be the good futureproof platform customer experience is very Glantel develops quality, going to struggle.”
20Mbps will have no cap. broadband communications. winner.”
The Real Broadband Alternatives
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