Fergus Cassidy

Access all areas

IrelandOffline (IOFFL) is one of the country's most active and successful internet campaigning groups. Founded less than two years ago, its main goal was to push for affordable, unmetered and broadband access to the net.

So where exactly are we right now? Christian Cooke, the group's newly-elected chairman, unfolded his map and gave me directions.

FC: When founded, IOFFL were seen in some circles as cranks and whiners and probably could have met in a telephone box. What happened since then?
CC: That's been a bit of a misconception from the start. The truth is our membership, now about 3,000, is made up of a cross-section of the public, from small business to residential users, from gamers to the disabled, from students to professionals.

What about resources? As a voluntary group I'm guessing that they were in short supply.
Yes, we're a voluntary organisation, and with everyone making their contribution in their spare time you have to rely on the dedication of the members and the committee to get things done, and they're a very dedicated crowd.

IOFFL was sticking its nose in areas that ordinary users of the internet weren't that welcome up to that point. What kind of reception did you get?
Very positive, in fact. What has served us well has been our independence. We decided from the beginning that we would not have any affiliations with any commercial organisations and we could therefore be relied on to give impartial opinions.

You have to compete with some heavy hitters when it comes to getting your views across. Has this been a problem?
The real difficulty has been to see through the spin. To counter this we have a lively public forum on Boards.ie where every development is dissected to separate the wheat from the chaff. Take the latest malarkey on 'wireless hot spots' as an example.
   Big business is trying to convince people that priority should be given to making sure people can connect to the internet in pubs, airports and hotels, and paying by the hour for the privilege.
   That's all well and good if you have a laptop and that's where you spend your days, but not much use if you want to pay a reasonable fixed charge monthly to access the internet in your home or office.

Over the last few years, there was a lot of pessimism about net access in Ireland. Have those days gone for good?
Not yet. There are positive events on the horizon, though - the Metropolitan Area Network is due to go live soon, albeit curtailed from the originally planned 123 towns. This will give wireless operators a facility to connect back to the internet at the same price whether they're in Dublin or Donegal.
   The ESB fibre network is also coming on stream, although there's still some work to do to make it feasible for local internet service providers to connect to it. There's also a number of wireless operators setting up which bodes well for future competition.
   ComReg seems to have got the message too and is doing work on freeing up spectrum for wireless services. Most important, though, is minister Ahern's apparent resolve to grasp the nettle and force real change.

From the point of view of individual users, where would you place Ireland's internet infrastructure at the moment?
Quite poor. Our main disadvantage all along has been the lack of competition in the last mile to drive the introduction of new services. In countries such as the US and the UK, it was the introduction of cable internet access that drove the roll-out of DSL by the telcos.
   Here, the cable infrastructure is largely incapable of providing internet access because of the age of the network. That's why the way forward is to promote alternative last mile access.
   The advantage for Ireland is that innovation in the provision of broadband over the airwaves is progressing at breakneck speed, with new standards and products being introduced all the time.
   If Ireland was to have a nationwide wireless network, we would stand to benefit directly from this innovation, leaving our peers in the dust as they try to squeeze the last drops of bandwidth out of their phone lines and cable because it's been years since there was a new development in the delivery of broadband over copper.

Some of IOFFL's aims would also benefit business users. Has the campaign had any reaction from the business community?
A significant proportion of our members are small businesses. There is obvious synergy between our objectives and those of businesses in general because promoting real competition is good for all of us.

You've become chairman at a time when it seems most of the aims of IOFFL have been addressed, or are being addressed, in some form or another. So you've a relaxing time ahead then?
On the contrary. Achieving flat rate broke the log jam on internet access caused by the reluctance of Eircom to loosen its grip on the huge amount of revenue generated by per-minute charges. This has led to more affordable dial-up and some progress in the roll-out of DSL services.
   The task ahead is to create an environment where such a log jam cannot occur again, where real competition is introduced to make sure affordable internet access is available to everyone and to ensure continued innovation in future.
   Right now all we have is one last mile infrastructure controlled by a monopoly, and a number of other operators reselling the services they offer - hardly conducive to competition is it? No, there's still a lot of work to do.

At the recent AGM, you spoke of a new direction for IOFFL. In particular, alternative technologies focusing on the last mile delivery of affordable robust internet access. Why the change in direction and why now?
It's not so much a change in direction as a change of focus. Our objective has always been affordable internet access. We've always known that while flat rate was essential in the short term, there would have to be real competition in the last mile for sustainable internet growth here.
   We've shown by our successful campaign for flat rate how focusing on one issue can change things across the board, now we're turning our focus to the wireless alternative last mile as we believe this will have the greatest effect in promoting innovation in the services available.

Do you envisage a closer working relationship with IrishWAN, the community-based wireless group?
I believe the success of IrishWAN will be crucial. They're showing people that they shouldn't have to wait forever for internet access, that they can do something about it themselves by setting up as a community and providing for their own needs.
   It's a lot like the group water schemes: you know where a well is dug and the water shared out because the local authority can't connect people to the main water supply.
  Communities come together when necessary to get an essential service no one else will provide for them. IrishWAN is all about helping people set up group data schemes and we'll do everything we can to make sure they succeed.

And finally, do you ever see a time when IOFFL will be hanging up the 'Gone Fishing' sign?
Absolutely - but not before we've got Ireland Online. Let's see how far we get in the next 12 months.