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IrelandOffline is a voluntary organisation campaigning for universal high-speed broadband for all

News / Press Releases

Latest NBP blunder

IrelandOffline received yesterday’s news with some dismay Eamonn Wallace, chair of IrelandOffline noted: “It seems Minister Naughten, having talked the talk of machismo, has now capitulated to legal threats from Eircom. There maybe a different spin on it of course, but a plan that was put together by better minds than his has now been seriously compromised. The short of it is that Eircom has laid claim to the most lucrative parts of the NBP intervention area, leaving behind a thinly scattered mess of one-off houses. It is doubtful if what remains is viable even at an operating level; meaning...

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Irish Mobile Phone Coverage has SHRUNK YET AGAIN in 2016.

Irish Mobile Phone Coverage has SHRUNK YET AGAIN in 2016. IrelandOffline regularly warned in the period between 2010 and 2012 that there was a serious risk that mobile phone coverage would shrink catastrophically in Ireland once the mobile phone licences were sold off in December 2012. This is exactly what happened, especially in 2013 and 2014. Commenting on this Eamonn Wallace (Chair of IrelandOffline) said “Furthermore the state took many hundreds of millions for these licences and cannot make the operators ‘unshrink’ the coverage as they would be sued. So what does Denis Naughten do, he invites the Irish Countrywomen’s...

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The NBP Intervention Area Map

The NBP Intervention Area Map IrelandOffline have learnt that eir have announced that it will have the “entire Dingle peninsula” fibred-up in  2017. Congratulations seem to be due to broadcaster and musician Philip King on having pulled this one off. Most small communities are at their wits’ end to find a way to induce telecommunications into their area and great credit is due to those like Philip who develop local resources and a long term vision for their communities.  https://t.co/qTWrLvzEYP There is however a wider issue. Areas coming within the scope of providers’ plans may potentially be removed from the...

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IrelandOffline’s NBP Delay Primer

IrelandOffline’s NBP Delay Primer As we enter the sixth year of planning for the National Broadband Plan and with much speculation about another hold-up, we thought we’d have a look at some of the key mis-steps that have added significantly to the time taken so far and what might yet delay the project. These delays are not all cumulative; some of those from the past overlap significantly, but there are still headaches ahead. Early days and the Mobile Wireless lunacy It’s fairly easy to forget that the NBP actually started in mid 2011 with the Next Generation Broadband Taskforce and...

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The report please, Mr Naughten.

The report please, Mr Naughten. IrelandOffline now know who is going to own the assets of the National Broadband Plan and to nobody’s surprise it’s not us the citizens of Ireland. The rationale The reason it should be the Irish people is obvious from the intervention mapping. It seems that ninety six percent of the national territory can neither sustain a competitive market in communications infrastructure, nor attract enough interest from the regulator to mandate that the necessary investment be made. A decade and a half of ever deepening digital divide is all the evidence required. Instead of setting out...