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Tests carried out by the Communication’s Regulator to verify that mobile phone coverage is properly available throughout the country should be expanded, the Oireachtas Communications Committee has now confirmed.
At a meeting, the Regulator told Committee members it performs six monthly “drive tests” throughout the country to ensure good phone coverage exists and to identify coverage black spots.
However, under questioning from the Committee, it was revealed that these tests are carried out on national primary routes only and ignore national secondary, tertiary and county routes.
Oireachtas Committee Member and Tipperary Fine Gael Deputy Noel Coonan TD stated;
“A significant proportion of the population live nowhere near national primary routes, including many people in North Tipperary. Therefore, the Committee feels that these drive tests can not give a comprehensive picture of levels of phone coverage throughout the country and cannot conclusively authenticate if mobile phone companies are fulfilling their minimum requirements under their license.
These tests should be extended to other types of roads such as secondary, tertiary and county roads around the constituency so the complete situation regarding areas where coverage is poor can be identified. We heard today from Committee members about areas in their constituencies which are bedevilled by bad coverage, so having a more thorough idea of where these areas are would help the operators to address these shortcomings”
The Communications Regulator conducts six monthly ‘drive tests’ which consist of a car with specialist equipment driving around the country assessing mobile coverage.
The roll-out of high-speed broadband throughout North Tipperary depends on the Government providing backhaul connectivity to link the counties (MANs) to the wider national and international broadband network.
 Tipperary Unplugged A Metropolitan Area Network (or MAN) is a large computer network that usually spans a large geographical area and usually interconnects a number of Local Area Networks (LANs) using a high-capacity backbone technology, such as fiber-optical links. This provides up-link services to wide area networks and the Internet.
Fine Gael TD Deputy Noel Coonan speaking to thurles.info said he had been in consultation with the Limerick-based company e|net which is managing the rollout of the fibre-optic broadband platform called Metropolitan Area Networks throughout Ireland.
The Deputy stated:
“At Fine Gael’s National Conference recently I said live on television that before MANs in Nenagh, Roscrea and Templemore can function effectively they must have what is called backhaul connectivity to link them to the national and international network. Backhaul connectivity relates to an improved wireless communications system capable of efficiently transmitting smaller-sized data packets (e.g. 10 to 20 byte length) that are frequently delivered (e.g. every 10 to 20 msec.) to mobile nodes on the communications system, such as voice communications. We need this connectivity to increase the competitiveness of North Tipperary and attract foreign direct investment. Cities such as Limerick, Kilkenny and Portlaoise have MANs platforms which stretch to smaller local towns but unfortunately North Tipperary is relying on this incapable and inefficient Government to provide sufficient backhaul facilities to link us up. E|net is very committed to improving broadband service in the locality and has highlighted that high-quality broadband is an essential pre-requisite to being able to attract any major business to towns around the constituency. The Limerick-based company has also indicated to me that it is vital that the present Government gets on with establishing the proposed one-stop-shop whereby all State-owned ducting and fibre would be administered by a single State entity.”
North Tipperary lost 188 IDA jobs last year and the inability to provide proper broadband hinders the county in their efforts to attract future investment. IDA figures have shown that MAN enabled towns have increased their share of Foreign Direct Investment from around 25% a few years ago to nearly 90%. Dismal news, recently announced, show that North Tipperary lost 188 IDA jobs last year and was one of only three counties that failed to attract a single IDA job in 2009, increasing its unemployment figures to 6,949. Only 13 IDA jobs were created in the past couple of years.
Deputy Coonan continued:
“Government must boost its funding to the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) so that the job-creating body can provide jobs for some of the 6,949 people who are unemployed in North Tipperary. North Tipperary is one of the worst hit areas in the country when it comes to securing IDA jobs. This was made blatantly clear by a recent IDA report which revealed that the constituency did not attract one single job in 2009 and I firmly believe this Government is to blame for the disastrous result as it continues to forget about job creation.
A recent example of this negligence was seen in the Government reshuffle which left no Government Department with the word employment or jobs in its title at a time when jobs should be first priority. Alongside this, our poor quality of broadband is severely deterring foreign multi-national companies from investing in North Tipperary.
Securing foreign direct investment is crucial if we are to pull our economy out of this hole. North Tipperary Government supporters Deputy Lowry and Deputy Hoctor should be ashamed that they did not help attract one single IDA job to the constituency last year. What is the point of people voting for these Deputies if they cannot provide for North Tipperary?”
An IDA delegation who addressed the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment recently this month, said that in the next 10 years, the IDA hope to secure nationwide 240,000 new jobs arising from overseas companies investing here.
 Mid West - Unplugged Speaking in the Dáil recently, Deputy Noel Coonan described as ‘really maddening’ Minister Eamon Ryan’s comments that he anticipates an increase in the demand for high speed broadband into the future.
Deputy Coonan asked about progress in creating a ‘one-stop shop’ to which the Minister for Communications said the context for the proposal is ‘the anticipated increase in demand for high speed broadband into the future.’
In response, the North Tipperary Fine Gael TD said:
“In the three years since I have been a Member of the House, I have heard the Minister pontificate about what he is doing in terms of broadband and set targets which he has consistently failed to meet. To hear him say he anticipates a demand for high speed broadband is really maddening, especially if one comes from my region of the mid-west which has a higher than average rate of unemployment. Shannon Development has stated clearly that the most significant barrier to job creation in the mid-west is the lack of a high speed broadband system. It is simply not there. Metropolitan Area Networks have been in the ground and waiting connection for years and it is frustrating for broadband providers and the general public. I would like a time-frame and for the Minister to state when this will happen. He could have given this answer last September. I do not want to listen to the same story from the Minister next September,” said Deputy Coonan.
Ireland is still behind the EU average broadband penetration rate and there is less broadband penetration in rural areas than in urban areas. Ireland’s ranking in the EU’s Broadband Performance Index is 23rd out of 29 countries.
Ireland, is grouped in the fifth and lowest cluster group with Latvia, Hungary, and Estonia. The socio-economic context is more favourable in Ireland than in the other countries, but high prices and low speeds, limit its performance, as a result of weak competition. High prices, low speeds and limited rural coverage, hold back performance for the whole group.
 Natives of Mullinahone, situated near the Tipperary/Kilkenny border, who are starved of a reliable Internet Broadband system, have had their prayers answered, when locals discovered that a local graveyard, approx five miles from the village, can give them access to the World Wide Web.
But business people in the village are still angry that their village is so poorly served, forcing them to travel to Kilbride cemetery to download material from the Internet and to send necessary emails. This situation, plus poor mobile phone coverage has now driven Mullinahone’s business community to raise a petition calling for an improved broadband and mobile phone coverage, to bring them up to date with other areas.
Mullinahone isn’t included in the €223m National Broadband Scheme (NBS) that is rolling out high-speed Internet in rural areas.
The Department of Communications states: “In designing the NBS, which was approved by the EU Commission, the department needed to strike a balance between reaching as many non serviced areas as possible and minimising the impact of the scheme on businesses already providing broadband in rural areas, thus minimising market distortion in accordance with EU state aid rules.”
Now here were the locals blaming our own Irish Government and to be precise the Department of Communications when the European Union are really totally to blame. Sometimes it’s impossible to know just who is in charge of running this little country of ours these days.
Whoever is in charge however, please note that according to a new international study, Ireland’s existing broadband infrastructure will not be able to cope with the arrival of the next generation of Internet applications and services. Researchers at Oxford University looked at the capability of connections in 42 countries, to examine how they are equipped to benefit from services like high definition video and other enhanced content offerings. Of the 42 countries surveyed Ireland’s connection speeds and capacity is ranked only in 33rd place on the global table. The report states that Japan is number one and is the country best equipped to handle the roll-out of any such future services.
Broad band services are good in Thurles Town but areas close to the town such as Log Na Fola and Brittas are still waiting for services to be updated.
Cashel Community School, a County Tipperary school based at Dualla Road in Cashel is named among a list of 78 post-primary schools across the country to receive High-Speed Broadband as part of a new Government initiative. The 100 mpbs Post Primary Schools Project, will deliver high-speed broadband connectivity to second level schools across the country.
Green Party Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Eamon Ryan, speaking at the launch of this project, at the Digital Hub Learning Studio, stated:
 “Today we are laying the foundations of Ireland‘s new Knowledge Society. Providing our schools with high-speed wireless connectivity opens up a whole new world of learning for our children and our students will be connected to every corner of the globe. We are taking online learning out of the confines of the computer room. In classrooms and corridors, students and teachers will potentially be able to carry out interactive chemistry experiments and access demonstrations and exhibitions from all over the world. A class learning French in Dublin could talk in real time with a class in France. A leaving Cert Physics student will be able to take part in Ivy League lectures and experiments. With this level of connectivity, the opportunities for interaction and collaboration are unlimited. We must equip our students with the skills and creativity they need to thrive in the new digital world we are entering. There is no surer way of preparing them than by bringing the Internet right into their place of learning and allowing them to experiment and interact online. Today’s announcement opens a door to them, to take part in Ireland’s digital future.”
Under the existing Schools Broadband Programme, primary and post-primary schools in Ireland can access a basic level of broadband connectivity. The 100 mpbs Post Primary Schools Project marks the next phase in the Government’s ambition to develop our schools as world-class centres of e-learning and to educate the next generation of knowledge workers and digital entrepreneurs.
Schools have been selected against various criteria including geographical location, and an adequate mix of schools to ensure broad social inclusion. The speeds available are similar to those that are being offered to high-end national and multinational companies that operate in Ireland. They allow for the quick upload and download of material, instant connection to websites, and the increased and varied use of online applications.
This project is the result of co-operation between the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and the Department of Education and Science, the Higher Education Authority, HEAnet and the National Centre for Technology in Education.
The Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has begun a tender process for broadband service providers. It is expected that numerous service providers will be involved. The tender will be accessible at: www.e-tenders.gov.ie
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