Mobile Broadband is best for Leitrim
Posted by info on 23 May 2009 | Tagged as: Campaign, Communications
There seems to be a view about, promoted largely by members of Sinn Fein and Fine Gael, that the Mobile Broadband service that will be provided to Co. Leitrim under the National Broadband Scheme will not adequately serve the county’s broadband needs.
This might have been true 5 years ago, but these days, the development of mobile broadband is advancing far more rapidly than wired broadband, to the extent that mobile broadband will most likely the normal mode of delivery for residential customers within 5-10 years.
This makes sense, particularly in Ireland, where are network of telecommunications cabling is very old and where we have abundant space in our radio spectrum (because we don’t reserve big chunks of it for the military).
The cost of upgrading our network, particularly in rural areas where settlement is so dispersed, would be enormous, and by the time we completed it, mobile broadband will probably have outstripped wired broadband in terms of the speed it can deliver into a residential home.
Another advantage of mobile broadband is that it is portable: you can take it with you when you leave you home, or when you leave the country.
From that point of view, it would be ludicrous for the State to invest hundreds of millions of euro in upgrading the eircom network, particularly in rural areas, where it is over 30 years old.
Instead, we will extend the mobile reach in Leitrim through more masts and better signal management, so that Leitrim residents can avail of improvements in mobile broadband as they come on stream.
This is the same model of rural broadband delivery that is being used in the UK, Australia and the US.
To learn more about the National Broadband Scheme, go to http://www.dcenr.gov.ie/nbs
