This is unbelievable did the Department really think this is a solution?
Let's look at the proposed solution a little bit.
The solution is to provide HSDPA style "universal broadband".
To provide the solution a mobile company is to roll out 160 new cell sites.They will provide a minimum download speed of 1.2Mbps and a min upload of 200kbps. For areas that they can't "reach" they will provide a satellite system.They will spend, all told, approximately 223 Million euros on this system, 79.8 Million from government funds with 30 Million from the EU.
160 new cell sites will service 33% of the land area.
My reaction
Firstly, I can't believer the EU would even consider this nonsense.
Secondly is this some kind of a joke, rough calculations tell me that a minimum of 10 times that number of cell sites are required to provide the required coverage, so this looks like it will be a satellite only network in reality.
I wonder why all the real telecommunications players abandoned the scheme?
Some thoughts on bandwidth.
HSPDA
5Mbps down and 1.8Mbps up is what they are claiming at a minimum of 1.2Mbps and a min upload of 200kbps. In a perfect world and only one person on the cell site this might be possible
(of course you'd have to sit beside the mast for that).
It's most likely that you'll end up having speeds which are closer to dialup speeds than "broadband" speeds. For this reason alone the solution has been called "midband".
Now let's add some others to the cellsite, let's say 10 people.
7.2Mbps is the current speed for IHSDPA.
7.2/10 will give the real bandwidth being delivered. Now let's add 10 more...you get the picture!
(Note the overhead involved actually makes things far worse, the speed degradation INCREASES fast than proportional with 3G/HSPDA) and we are still way less than the 36:1 contention being provided for.
Can this contention ratio be controlled (even if it provides 36 users on the site with similar to dialup speeds) no it can't...
I believe that currently each site is fed by 2Mbps backhaul (certainly the remoter sites)
Some thoughts on cellsites
I believe that 10 times the number of cellsites will be required to deliver this service, so in reality most places will end up getting satellite service.
This is just a taste of why this NBS scheme will never work.
Now lets look at a similar spend in another EU country:
"Fast broadband for the whole of Finland by 2015
19/09/2008
High-quality and high-speed broadband connections has been a primary goal of the Finnish electronic communications policy.
The government of Finland has announced that a fast, high quality broadband network should be made available across the whole country, reaching almost all households, businesses and public offices by 2015.
A report compiled by Harri Pursiainen, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications recommends that the speed of the broadband should be at least 100Mb/s and it would be delivered through an optic fibre network or a cable network.
Presenting the report to the government this week, Minister of Communications Suvi Lindén said that implementing the objective represents a historic step in the development of the information society in Finland.
Finland currently has more than 1.5 million broadband connections. According to Lindén, the widespread availability of affordable, high-quality and high-speed broadband connections has been a primary goal of the Finnish electronic communications policy.
Finland’s National Broadband Strategy was implemented in 2004-2007. During the first two years of the strategy period, the growth in the number of broadband connections in Finland was the fastest in the world and even in the third year it was the third fastest in Europe. Finland’s broadband ranking has risen from sixth to third in Europe and from fifteenth to seventh worldwide, according to Lindén.
The government wants to ensure that the country’s communications networks meet the needs of the society both now and in the future. According to Lindén, the availability of broadband connections has enabled the use and development of advanced digital content and services, playing a crucial role in the Finnish information society development."
Strangely the investment required is almost identical
"at least 200 million euros is needed to reach over 99 per cent availability"
"Last December, our government accepted the programme and promised 66 million euros for it"
Now Finland is a big country with lots of lakes and even has artic conditions in the northern part of that country, yet they can manage to rollout broadband to remote areas in even more difficult conditions than "remote" Ireland. We must also bear in mind that Finland is roughly 10 times bigger than Ireland and while mostly flat(ish) it is covered in dense forests.
