Bringing Telecoms Industry Together to Support the Development of Broadband
Huawei today hosted the Ireland Broadband Forum – an event which brought together leading names from across the telecoms world to discuss the future of high-speed connectivity in Ireland.
Mr. Guo Ping, Rotating and Acting CEO of Huawei, opened the forum with a keynote speech focused on achieving the sound development of Ireland’s National Broadband Network (NBN) through cross-sector cooperation among governments, industries, and partners.
“Huawei has accumulated rich experience in developing high-speed networks around the world,” said Mr. Guo. “For example, experience has shown that the public-private partnership (PPP) model can be highly effective when it comes to implementing national broadband network strategies. Under this model, governments attract and encourage strong carriers to lead NBN construction by offering direct financing or subsidies, which in turn leads to greater choice and access in improving services for consumers. In terms of the technological development of national broadband networks, we believe that achieving synergy between optical fibre and existing copper cables is the most feasible and cost effective model today.”
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mr. Richard Bruton TD said: “The importance of high-speed, reliable and quality broadband to economic growth across the country is well-understood, and as part of our Action Plan for Jobs we have put a focus on this area. Significant progress has been delivered in recent years, driven by Minister Pat Rabbitte, and further infrastructure will be rolled out in the coming years through the National Broadband Plan, right across the country. We must continue to innovate and constantly seek to improve our infrastructure, and in this context it is very encouraging to see Huawei prompt debate on these challenges. I know from meeting them in boardrooms with the IDA how innovative a company Huawei is, and it is great to have them engaged in helping to provide solutions on these issues”.
Mr. Guo added, “Broadband networks are becoming a core competence of national economies, but their development is facing numerous challenges. For example, network build out is costly because of difficulties in public utility construction and site resource acquisition. Therefore, addressing these problems requires the formulation of government policies, standards, and specifications, as well as cross-sector cooperation. Ireland, with a forward-looking strategy, is already addressing it. We hope the Ireland Broadband Forum will play a role in addressing these issues and help Ireland build a better connected world.”
The Ireland Broadband Forum included keynote speeches from Richard Bruton TD, Ireland’s Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation and Kevin O’Brian, Chairperson of Comreg, Ireland’s telecom regulator, who discussed the various challenges facing the broadband industry, including regulation and infrastructure.
A panel session discussed the current and imminent challenges of building Next Generation Networks (NGNs) in Ireland and included executives from eircom, Imagine, BT Ireland, and Indecon Economic Consultants. Throughout the event, delegates from the industry visited the Huawei demonstration truck to view the latest Broadband Network technologies and solutions firsthand.
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