Ireland is stuck in internet timewarp, Esat chief warns
In Cornwall only 5% of small businesses were connected to broadband two years ago. Today, after several government and local initiatives, the number has risen to 30%. This situation is being mirrored all over Britain, and Ireland must catch up quickly or lose out, he warned, adding that the key to development were public and private partnerships (PPP).
He pointed to the example of the North where Invest Northern Ireland, the Department of Trade and Industry and Esat have joined forces to provide broadband to homes and businesses.
Mr Murphy pointed out that Ireland was bottom of the OECD communications league. Top of the league are the Nordic countries while the US is sixth.
If Ireland is to improve, he warned, digital Ireland must become a reality.
Mr Murphy said eircom must help open up the regions by making its infrastructure available at competitive rates to other telecom providers to give cities and towns quick and cheap access to the internet.
"The local access issue has to be addressed immediately," he stressed, saying that it was cheaper to rent space in New York's Trump Towers than it was from eircom. Government agencies and business organisations must come together to make Cork a digital city, he told the Cork Chamber of Commerce monthly business breakfast briefing, organised in association with the Irish Examiner.
Once every part of the country is connected to broadband, he said, location will not matter.
He added that Ireland was caught in a time warp when communications services here were compared to the US. Two years ago, there was no fixed rate internet access and customers paid by the minute, a system abandoned in the US seven years ago.
"Esat set a strategy of innovation and change. Now there are 50,000 users getting a better service at a cheaper price," he said.
Esat BT is a subsidiary of BT Group, one of the largest communications companies in the world.
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