This article is from page 16 of the 2006-07-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 16 JPG
MORE than a year after hundreds of customers signed up for a new broadband service in County Clare, it has emerged that subscribers will now have to wait until next year for the high-speed connection which they should have had last September.
In June 2005, Smart Telecom enticed customers to sign up for their alternative service, offering special deals including free line rental for life. Smart offered the package for just €35 a month including VAT, undercutting Eircom by almost €50. Smart also told those who signed up that they would have their connection by the following September (2005). Ten months later, the company now says that it could be 2007 before they can finally roll out broadband in Ennis but has not offered any explanation for the delay.
Smart continues to blame “unreasonable terms and restrictions imposed by Eircom, including access to its national network” for the delays in its roll-out to new areas.
Eircom has described these claims as “disingenuous” and says, “We have offered broadband to customers in Ennis since spring 2003. Eircom already provides access to our exchange in Ennis to other operators. A number of competitors avail of this access and also offer DSL broadband in Ennis so there is nothing stopping Smart Telecom from offering broadband there.”
According to Smart, “Our roll-out is based around the Government’s
Metropolitan Area Networks pro gramme. The reason the MAN’s came into existence is because Eircom would not offer reasonable terms on its network for national access.”
The government has invested €27m in its MAN’s programme in an effort to address the infrastructure deficit by building high-speed open access networks in 120 towns and cities nationwide, on a phased basis, in association with the local and regional authorities. It has emerged that Ennis is not included in either Phase I or II of the project which means, if Smart Telecom’s roll-out of broadband in Ennis is dependent on MAN’s, the company’s Ennis customers will have to wait until 2007.
According to the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, “We are well aware of the need for MAN’s for some of the larger towns like Ennis. However, the government decision was to target those towns which in 2003 did not have any broadband infrastructure at all. Ennis had DSL at that time.”