Eircom spokesman Paul Bradley told the Oireachtas Communications Committee that even when the local exchange is upgraded to handle broadband, after 5km the signal becomes so weak that a modem will not connect. He said it was a limitation of the technology.
Fine Gael's Noel Coonan accused Eircom of abandoning rural Ireland. But Mr Bradley said Eircom has now set up broadband in exchanges where there are between 300 and 400 customers. He described these areas as 'very rural'.
Another Eircom executive, Pat Galvin, said that even when these exchanges are connected, some communities will have to rely on slower broadband because of costs.
Mr Galvin said it would not be economical to extend fixed line broadband nationwide and that some parts of rural Ireland would have to reply on wireless broadband, which is slower.
Earlier, Mr Galvin told the committee that even though the company has a large amount of debt, Eircom has not been hindered in investing in better broadband. He said the company's debt was manageable.
He was responding to a question from Fine Gale's Simon Coveney who said there was a perception that Eircom's parent company was broke and that Eircom would not be able to pay for next generation broadband.
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Quelle/Source: RTE, 11.03.2009
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