Key provision for a government deal with the Green party to be universal broadband

Members of the Green party recently voted to remain in government in Ireland, although one of the main conditions for this is for 100Mbps broadband to every school in the country and broadband to every home in Ireland.

The greens voted to continue in the current government and back a National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) rollout and also saved the current administration from any concerns of a sudden election.

When NAMA draws to an end in 10 years time a commitment was given that the banks will have a statutory obligation to cover any shortfalls that may arise in the Greens’ new Program for Government, which helped secure the latter part of the recent vote.

The object of delivering broadband available to every household by 2012 and to provide 100Mbps broadband to every secondary-level school are not just listed as pet projects and were included in the key provisions.

The claims of Ireland being a “Smart Economy” have been seriously undermined as Irelands broadband infrastructure is currently behind most developed economies, especially in the rural parts of the country.

It was found that in terms of broadband quality Ireland ranked close to the bottom of 40 country list across the globe according to a worldwide study carried out on behalf of Cisco by a team of MBA students at the University of Oviedo’s Economics Department and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.

The list showed that countries like France have broadband connection speeds as high as 42Mbps and the UK has Virgin Media currently offering speeds of 50Mbps and soon 200Mbps, whilst most users in Ireland are currently getting broadband connection speeds below 3Mbps.

Its efforts to install this new technology will need to be matched by its commitment to make sure that it takes into account the quality of connection if the Greens are really being serious when it comes to their agenda of every person and home getting universal broadband.

Source – Silicon Republic