Irish 'fraudband' condemned by eBay's McElligott

Slow connection speeds and lagging availability of broadband mean that the Government will have difficulty in achieving stated goals such as supporting small businesses, encouraging the use of communications technologies and promoting regional development, according to one of the world's most successful internet companies.

"Developing world" levels of broadband provision currently on offer in Ireland constituted "fraudband", said John McElligott, managing director of eBay Ireland.

"We've had developing world levels of connectivity in Ireland and businesses like us are very unhappy about that.

"For this to succeed we need excellent connectivity, not OK connectivity.

"Japan has 20 megabit [ per second] connections to the home while we have operators boasting about one or two megabit broadband," said Mr McElligott.

"That's 'fraudband' as far as we're concerned. We'd ask why this is acceptable at this point?"

However, he said, the argument was "changing", and it was no longer the Government which needed to be driving better provision but the telecommunications industry itself.

The Government had made "some real progress" in promoting broadband development, he said.

"It's really time for the [ fixed line] industry to be innovative in the way the mobile industry has been innovative."

The fact that several mobile operators were filling a home broadband gap by offering 3G modems - which, in other countries, is used primarily for connectivity while travelling - was "ironic" and emphasised the scope of the problem, he said.

He acknowledged that home broadband providers also needed "encouragement from businesses like ourselves" which provide the motivation for home and business users to want broadband in the first place.

"People don't want 'broadband', they want applications and services," he said, and industry needed to provide them. But, he added, the infrastructure needed to be there.

As an example he likened the development of businesses and services along the M50 to the role fast broadband connectivity has in accelerating the growth of internet-based businesses and services.

"We have a huge opportunity that we aren't taking advantage of. I'm calling for industry generally to display greater levels of innovation and future thinking," said Mr McElligott.

One of the first and most successful internet companies, eBay facilitates five transactions every minute which involve an Irish person.

The company, which owns the online payments firm PayPal, employs 1,200 people in Ireland.