Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’d first like to say a sincere “thank you” to Colm Piercy and Digiweb for the kind invitation to formally launch the company’s new broadband initiative – “Metro” - the Next Generation Network for wireless broadband.
I believe the launch of Metro is a milestone in the roll-out of Ireland’s broadband infrastructure. It will bring the benefits of broadband to many more homes, families and schools. Metro will immediately bring a completely new, line-free, 3 megabit broadband and telephone service to over 1.3 million people in the initial six locations.
Already Digiweb has track record of contributing in initiatives that have a positive impact on Irish society.
For example Digiweb are currently playing a major part in one of my Department’s key projects – the Broadband for Schools programme. Broadband in our schools can fundamentally alter the Irish education system and positively impact the lives of our children. During my time in Education I saw how other countries used broadband to educate their pupils in innovative ways.
For example, Singaporean children learn new skills like teamwork, planning, finding and evaluating information, and presenting their findings by working on local history or environmental projects using ICT equipment and the web.
It’s not just a computer in every classroom – the efficiencies that broadband brings can bolster the administration and financing functions allowing schools run more efficiently. This is ultimately to the benefit of pupils and parents.
Digiweb will be providing broadband connectivity for almost half of the primary and post-primary schools in the country. The Schools project is well underway.
We’ve begun installing broadband across the country, all schools will be fully connected early in 2006.
This is a very complex project. It’s an example of how more and more initiatives will be rolled out in future. The telecoms sector, my Department and the Department of Education and Science are working alongside the National Centre for Technology in Education and HEAnet to ensure that broadband becomes embedded in every schoolchild’s classroom experience.
Achieving this adds a dimension to the already impressive education Irish children receive and is one of the building blocks of our knowledge society.
The only way Ireland can remain competitive in today’s global economy is by creating such a knowledge society. Our current economic success was built on the back of our agricultural and manufacturing sectors. But our competitiveness in these areas is being eroded by countries who can produce goods more cheaply, who can afford more research and development and who have huge supplies of human capital.
Taking them on would be like David and Goliath only without the slingshot.
We are being pushed into a very small niche in the global economy where maintaining competitiveness poses a number of challenges.
Within this space for Ireland to remain competitive we need to innovate. Much of our previous success occurred because we were a desirable destination for Foreign Direct investment. Our workforce, tax regime and geographical location brought investment to us. However other countries are overtaking us, we need to start carving our own way now.
We need to keep ahead of an unforgiving innovation curve.
When we innovate we can’t sit back and admire for a moment. Our innovation will become someone else’s imitation. Other countries will mass-produce and sell cheaper than we can. We need the next innovative product immediately.
We need to embed innovation, flexibility and creativity into our business environment. This starts by showing a child how to design a computer programme in a school. Classrooms will be the foundations of the knowledge society.
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Another building block in constructing this society is widespread provision of affordable broadband for businesses and citizens.
Up to now the delivery of broadband services in the regions has been hampered by the lack of investment by the sector in the necessary infrastructure. Other countries, such as the States and South Korea already have a structure for their knowledge society. We can’t wait for the sector to decide to invest. Ireland’s knowledge society cannot wait for projected profit levels.
As a result the Government has committed over €200 million of European Regional Development Fund and State funding to the Regional Broadband Programme. The goal is to put in place the technology that will allow every person to access broadband.
People and businesses will gain access through fibre-based Metropolitan Area Networks in towns in all regions. The creation of 120 MAN is underway. This will offer all service providers open access to our world-class State-owned infrastructure at competitive prices. Once businesses enjoy the benefits of broadband we will have taken another step towards the knowledge society.
The first phase of the MANs programme is now nearing completion with 19 MANs up and running. There is already considerable activity on the completed MANs.
Vodafone recently announced a deal with E-Net to improve its nationwide capacity; other large companies based in regional towns are already making use of the MANs networks, such as Prumerica Financial in Letterkenny or MBNA in Carrick-on-Shannon.
My Department also part-funded the ESB fibre trunk network, which is over 1,300 kilometres in length, on which broadband providers like Digiweb obtain backhaul to deliver new broadband services such as Metro.
For smaller towns and rural communities my Department initiated the Group Broadband Scheme, which offers funding assistance for community groups to get broadband connectivity, using the most suitable technology for their area.
To date, 115 Group Broadband Schemes have been approved - these cover over 300 communities, with an overall population of more than 200,000 people. Digiweb is already a significant partner in a number of Group Broadband Schemes, helping to bring the broadband experience to even the smallest of towns and villages.
In the knowledge society small towns and villages will play a central role in embedding broadband.
It’s the people who will use broadband to set up their own business that will become the spokesperson. The regions won’t be marginalised because the e-worker in Daingean is as accessible as the one in Dundrum.
But today is about Digiweb’s new service. The new Metro service is fully wireless, and offers significant faster broadband than the current standard DSL broadband service. Metro also includes a voice telephony option, with free telephone calls between Digiweb customers. The new service represents a major leap forward in the provision of wireless broadband to the Irish market.
It by-passes the difficulties of Local Loop Unbundling as it is completely independent of the traditional copper telephone line.
I am delighted to be here to officiate at today’s launch. I am constantly encouraging people to shop around for the broadband product that is best suited to their needs and budget, and Metro is another step towards ensuring more choice for broadband users in Ireland.
In launching this new service, I congratulate Digiweb for their energy, innovation and enthusiasm in bringing the next generation of wireless broadband services to the market.
Metro will use state-of-the-art technology to deliver a competitive service to a market that needs real broadband at realistic prices, and I wish it every success.
Finally, it just remains for me to thank you all. I now declare Metro formally launched.
Thank you.
Ends