EIRCOM TO TRIAL ULTRA FAST BROADBAND IN DUBLIN AND WEXFORD - Eircom is investing €20m in a trial to see how consumers and business take to 'ultra fast' fibre broadband, which will allow much faster broadband speeds of up to 150 mega bits per second. The trial, to be up and running next year, will deliver fibre broadband to 10,000 homes in high-density Sandyford in Dublin and in more spread out Wexford town. Eircom's competitors will be allowed access to the technology in the hopes that the trials will lead to a joint effort to build a fibre based network around the country. At the moment 15% of Eircom's traffic is video-based, and it expects that will be 85% by 2013.
Paul Donovan, Eircom's chief executive, says that most of the country's broadband is delivered through copper-based technology, which was built in the 1970s and 1980s. He says while this serviced us well, much higher speeds are now required. He says that more people want to work from home, want to download movies and just have higher speeds available to them. He says he believes there will be big demand for the new innovation and adds that the imagination of the application providers will be the only limit to broadband in the future.
Mr Donovan says the trial will be very useful as it will provide valuable details about the costs of the new generation infrastructure and what customers will use it to do online. He says that Eircom won't be asking for state aid, but adds that Ireland does present with geographical difficulties for communications providers.
The Eircom boss also says that he does not see any sign of economic recovery and that the firm is still seeing a dramatic fall in landline subscriptions. He says Eircom's drive to reduce staff numbers by 1,200 by next March will happen six months ahead of schedule, but did not say how many more job cuts the company needs to reduce its costs.
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MORNING BRIEFS - The French government will raise the retirement age from 60 to 62, Labour Minister Eric Woerth said today as he unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the pensions system. 'Working longer is inevitable' he said, adding that All France's European partners have done this by working longer. President Nicolas Sarkozy hopes the reform will convince jittery investors that he is serious about cleaning up heavily indebted state finances and enable France to cling onto its precious AAA sovereign debt rating. But trade unions have threatened to battle a rise in the retirement age, and the plan could yet be sweetened before it goes to parliament for ratification in September.
*** A report out from Ulster Bank says the public finance crisis in the euro zone triggered significant selling of the euro as developments of recent months exposed major deficiencies in the institutional underpinnings of European Monetary Union. Ulster Bank economist Simon Barry warns that the euro has further to fall and could hit $1.12 against the dollar and 78 pence by the end of the year.
*** Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the US show that directors at Bank of Ireland hold over €10m in loans with the bank and over €20m in deposits. Chief executive Richie Boucher, chairman Pat Molloy and director Des Crowley are among those with the biggest loans. The figures filed show that the amount of money on loan to directors has never gone above the level the directors have in deposits at the bank, and no account is in arrears or behind schedule.
*** Spanish unions have called a general strike in response to labour market reforms due to be unveiled today. The strike will take place on September 29, to coincide with a European 'day of action'. The government is pressing ahead with the reforms after two years of talks with the unions broke down.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is trading at $1.2335 cents and 83.25 pence sterling.
