Esat BT's chief executive has said the absence of broadband infrastructure is becoming a major threat to Ireland's future competitiveness.
Speaking at the annual conference of IBEC's Telecommunications and Internet Federation, Bill Murphy also said the Government needed to reconsider its public private partnership strategy on the roll-out of broadband to include a 'real partnership' with consumers and the community.
He said the Government's objective of 'always on' high-speed Internet access within three years was very ambitious, and consumers may not take it up.
Mr Murphy said Ireland could learn from a scheme in Cornwall in England called ACT Now.
He said the partnership set up there involved BT, as well as local authorities, development agencies, the education system, business and domestic consumers. He added that it involved customers logging their interest in broadband access for their community, thus ascertaining the level of demand before the infrastructure was put in place.