Incoming chairman committed to broadband take-up

INCOMING Eircom executive chairman Pierre Danon said there was no point in getting involved in the blame game over Ireland’s low level of broadband take-up.

However, Irish consumers, frustrated by their inability to access broadband, can look forward to that situation being put to right if his track record in the North when boss of BT Retail is anything to go by.

At the news conference in Dublin to announce the Babcock & Brown bid for the Irish telecoms group, Mr Danon noted that during his time as boss of BT Retail Northern Ireland achieved blanket broadband coverage.

He thought it unfair to lay all the blame for the failure of this country to sign up to broadband at levels comparable to other European countries at the feet of Eircom.

When he joined BT the situation on broadband was quite similar he said.

Take up was not good and the coverage was also poor and delivery was also a problem, he said.

“It’s the fault of BT. It’s the fault of Eircom. It’s the fault of the regulator or its the fault of the population,” was the general tone of the criticism, he said.

But finger pointing did not solve the problem in the North, he said.

What will do the trick will be a commitment from all the players in the sector to come together to come up with a solution that works well for all.

“In the future Eircom will play ball and I am absolutely committed.

“And remember when I was at BT, Northern Ireland became the first region in Europe to be 100% broadband available,” he said.

That was done together with the Northern Ireland authorities and with some of BT’s competitors.

In his view the potential of broadband is only beginning to emerge.

In future consumers will be able to pick programmes of their choice to suit themselves.

He also foresees the day when small community games involving spectators of no more than 3,000 can be picked up and made available at low cost as we move from the linear system of making programmes and films at set times available to an audience that can be targeted in a much more specific way than was previously possible, he said.