Broadband too expensive for public, says regulator

Broadband internet access is still too expensive for the public despite recent, highly publicised price cuts, according to data offered by telecoms regulator ComReg in a presentation yesterday to an Oireachtas committee.

Consumers are willing to pay around €34 a month for high-speed connections, significantly lower than the €50-€55 charged on average by the major telecoms providers, ComReg told the Joint Committee on Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

Perhaps more significantly, 65 per cent of those polled last month by Amárach consulting were unable to say what they regarded as a reasonable rate.

Four in 10 knew nothing about broadband, said ComReg chairwoman Ms Etain Doyle. The same number knew a little. Only 13 per cent said they knew a lot about high-speed connections.

Earlier, Axia Ireland, a division of Axia, the Canadian telecoms group, told the committee that a State-funded broadband network would save the Exchequer millions in the long term. Axia Ireland is 10 per cent owned by the IAWS food group.

While politicians and regulators debate the best way forward, the Republic continues to lose ground to other EU states, where broadband access is far more freely available, Axia told the committee.

Natural laws of competition will not in isolation drive broadband growth, said Mr John Tyrell, an IAWS board member and part of the Axia delegation.

"Without an expected new competitive threat of direct Irish Government intervention, neither Eircom nor Esat BT will willingly solve the Irish broadband deficit," he added.

"There are strong financial incentives to maintain the status quo monopoly. The incumbent will avoid having to respond to the introduction of competition but will accommodate once put in place by Government."

A publicly-funded network should use current infrastructure where possible but new structures could be constructed when incumbent providers refused to sell existing ones at a reasonable price, said Mr Tyrell.