Thompstone: €4bn national broadband network vital

THE lack of broadband throughout the country is a big threat to employment and needs to be addressed by the Government as a matter of urgency.

The warning came from Shannon Development chief executive Kevin Thompstone.

He claimed the knowledge-based industry will not wait around and will move elsewhere if action is not taken. Mr Thompstone called for the urgent roll out of a €4bn telecommunications infrastructure nationwide.

Speaking at Shannon Development’s 2007 end of year results, Mr Thompstone said: “To be truly competitive in the knowledge economy, Ireland urgently needs to have ultra high speed broadband available in every part of the country. Clients from major international corporations will not wait a few years for the private sector to provide what is a vital piece of public communications infrastructure, they will simply vote with their feet and invest elsewhere.”

While economic growth in Ireland is high, in comparison to many of our European counterparts, he said Ireland needs to be “battle fit” to meet the growing pressures of globalisation.

“One initiative which offers Ireland an opportunity to both catch up with and leap ahead of other parts of the world in relation to pervasive broadband access is the development of a national Next Generation Network (NGN).

“One of the key elements of NGN is that broadband is delivered not just to a town via a fibre ring but direct to enterprise and the home by means of fibre to the door.”

Mr Thompstone said a brave decision was needed to invest in NGN infrastructure ahead of demand if Ireland was to tackle international competition.

He said: “The Government should start with a national NGN pilot project, and I believe Shannon town — with its unique mix of industry and homes — is ideally positioned to act as the pilot location for the roll out of NGN in Ireland.”

A pilot project in Shannon town, he said, would cost in the region of €25 million.

Since the publication of last year’s annual report, responsibility for the creation of indigenous jobs in the mid-west has been transferred to Enterprise Ireland.

Shannon Development’s job promotion role is confined to the Shannon Free Zone industrial area at the airport where more than 7,300 are employed. Last year companies there generated €3.3bn in sales.

Last year, 350 new jobs were created in the Free Zone but a loss of 480 jobs resulted in a net decrease of 130.

Average earnings of workers in the Shannon Zone are close to €50,000.

More than 90% of goods manufactured there are exported and more than 70% of the jobs there are provided by international services companies.

Shannon Development which promotes tourism in the mid-west saw a five5% per cent drop in overseas visitors.

However this figure has to be taken in the context of a 25% increase in 2006.

John Brassil, chairman, Shannon Development said: “The announcement of the new CityJet air service to Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris is extremely welcome and a move that is hugely important in the campaign to restore vital air connectivity to the business community and the general public along the entire west coast of Ireland.”

On a cautionary note, he said that while the new service was welcomed, other air access was badly needed to ensure long-term competitiveness in an increasingly challenging environment.