Eir’s extra 200K FTTH - When? Where?

Glaceon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119384731#Comment_119384731

My address in a new housing estate is showing as in the NBI intervention area on that map but I have 500Mb Virgin Media, and OpenEir's map shows that they're planning FTTH here. I presume I'll be taken off the NBI list in time.

clohamon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119553391#Comment_119553391

Maybe. It's not clear whether VM/Openeir/SIRO are communicating their progress to the Department. Absent a USO, none have an obligation to cover "areas" and can cherry pick as they please. I don't suppose NBI will know for sure what's remaining until Openeir's roll-out is completed (forecast 2026). And they can't assume that Openeir will cover all premises on any given road or in any estate.

You could check the planning decision with the council and see if there's any conditions requiring open access ducting/cabling in the estate.

OpenEir's map has an unconvincing reason for not disclosing their roll-out schedule. Some journalist could presumably confirm it with ComReg.

We cannot communicate timelines for individual eircodes or specific areas within an exchange area due to regulatory protocols. However in terms of notification, when an eircode goes live on the Fibre to the Home network all Service Providers using the open eir network are informed at the same time and the eircodes flow into their respective sales and marketing systems. 

These Service Providers then market FTTH broadband to premises that are live on the FTTH network and those premises can then place an order for FTTH with their preferred service provider.

To date we have enabled over 800K of our 1.9million homes and businesses, we plan to complete our roll out by the end of 2026

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119553391#Comment_119553391

Probably not.

National broadband plan: Irish homeowners frustrated as rollout ‘leapfrogs’ areas – The Irish Times

The Department of Communications said it was aware of the commercial operators building networks in the amber intervention area and welcomed the extra connectivity, saying the operators would all know they would soon be facing competition from the State-subsidised scheme. The department said it would continue to rely on the 2019 maps, which were fully compliant with rules for State aid.

EarWig

Eir pays €300m shareholder dividend

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/eir-pays-300m-shareholder-dividend-jhclnc3vp

Let's hope the other side of this promise holds up, namely an increase from 200k to 250k premises passed per year.

clohamon

Latest Eircom results for Q1 2023 (financial) Q3 2022 (calendar)

As with previous results the urban program is making up virtually all the increases in Eircom's FTTP coverage.

The latest quarter's results imply only 1k increase in the rural program. A total of 4k in the last year.

clohamon

Today's release of Eircom's results (2022 Q4) show again that most of the FTTP progress is in the urban program. Indicating only 2k extra for their rural program to 2022-12-31.

EarWig

It's also notable that capital investment has been increased as they said it would.

Total accrued capital expenditures were €286 million, which included network investment of €247 million.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2023/03/21/revenue-dips-at-eir-as-exceptional-charges-hit-profits/

clohamon

Quarterly update from Eircom (2023 Q1). Hard to know for sure if this 200K has been absorbed into the overall IFN or whether it is still being accounted for separately. If the latter then it has stalled completely in the last quarter. The overall quarterly increase in FTTP has slowed to 45k this quarter from an average of nearly 60k/qtr in 2022.

EarWig

We can see the increase over time. I'd accept what he says.

“The first quarter of 2023 has proved a solid start to the year and we remain on course to add another 250,000 homes and businesses to our fibre-to-the-home broadband network, already available to more than one million premises,” said Oliver Loomes, eir chief executive.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2023/05/18/eirs-revenue-rises-but-earnings-fall-in-first-quarter/

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clohamon

https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/1195101/eir-expands-high-speed-fibre-broadband-network-across-limerick.html

Commenting on the progress of the FTTH broadband roll-out programme, Oliver Loomes, CEO, eir said: “Data for the first half of 2023 shows we’re ahead of schedule in delivering high-speed broadband to 84% of premises in Ireland by 2026

clohamon

Latest figures from Eircom for Q2 2023 (2023-06-30)

Progress averaging 48k/Qtr so far for 2023 which is less than the acceleration announced last year.

Eir says that 200,000 homes will be passed in 2022, increasing to 250,000 homes in 2023. This will allow around 50,000 more families and businesses to gain access to high-speed internet per year than initially anticipated.

It would need to increase to over 58k/Qtr to meet the objective of 1.9M FTTH by 2026.

The 200k program announced in the OP above appears to be a low priority with only 1k increase in the last quarter.

EarWig

Yes, disappointing.

The numbers are going the wrong way.

EarWig

I wonder whether inflation is the problem here. The sale of half the fibre network was supposed to create funds to boost capital expenditure. This seems to have happened, but in nominal terms.

During the twelve month year ended 31 December 2022, payments for capital expenditure (cash) were €287 million,compared with €245 million for the prior twelve month period ended 31 December 2021, an increase of €42 million. The high level of capital expenditure payments shows the continued commitment by the group to invest in key projects in order to facilitate

the transformation of the business.

https://www.eir.ie/opencms/export/sites/default/.content/pdf/IR/reports/2022_2023/eir_Q4-22_results_report.pdf

I'd say a lot of that has been eaten up by inflation. Why the numbers should turn downwards only now, when the worst of the inflation seems to be over, escapes me. Unless it's a delay that kicks in only when contracts are renegotiated.

clohamon

The delayed delivery goes back a bit - pandemic granted. The IFN program, 1.4M, was announced to begin June 2019 and finish in 5 years, but according to results above, they're barely half-way at 710k.

It's not clear from that bondholder doc what the extra was spent on in 2022. The shareholder's dividend, €800M, is surprising/not surprising.

clohamon

More figures from Eircom for Q3 2023

As before, progress in the IFN is still averaging 47k/qtr for this year. Eircom would need to increase to 59k/qtr to meet the Minister's hoped for completion date of 2026.

Eircom would need to pass 108k in Q4 to meet the 250k target they announced for 2023 as a result of the cash released from the InfraVia partnership.

Hard to tell if the roll-out has become more difficult in the last year or if the promised extra investment was never made.

EarWig

I would love to have a better idea about where in Dublin the rollout is at.

EarWig

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121403968#Comment_121403968

Eir, the former State-owned telecoms company, paid out dividends of €119 million to its shareholders in the three months to the end of September, bringing total distributions since the start of last year to more than €1 billion.

In total Eir has this year paid out €237 million in regular dividends to shareholders, led by the French billionaire Xavier Niel.

Last year the company made a distribution of €800 million following the sale of a minority stake in its fibre network to InfraVia Capital Partners, a French investment fund.

Eir last week reported a 4 per cent fall in earnings for the quarter, despite higher revenues.

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/2023/11/26/airport-operator-daa-should-ignore-arbitrary-passenger-cap-in-dublin-says-michael-oleary/

clohamon

.....and some historical stuff from ComReg's consultants.

clohamon

Eircom’s quarterly again. 

"https://www.eir.ie/opencms/export/sites/default/.content/pdf/IR/presentations/2024_2025/eir_Q4-23_results_presentation.pdf"

The target of passing 250k premises with FTTP in 2023 has definitively not been met. Average Eircom FTTP roll-out is now down to 47.5k/qtr in 2023 from 60.25k/qtr in 2022.

Meanwhile, CSO records 32,695 new dwellings in 2023 so it's difficult to know if the 200k marginal premises identified in the OP (non-IFN) are being addressed at all.

bewareofthedog

I've been able to order FTTH since November but they never finished the work properly on the street. They ran the fiber cables up from the ducts from the poles but never installed the DP's. Openeir/circet got eir to ring me and told me to cancel my order in Feb. They were meant to be out Feb 29th to complete the work but I guess they can't be bothered. I would take the available FTTP numbers with a massive grain of salt especially in rural areas.

clohamon

Quarterly's again. Claimed 47k FTTH in the last quarter - to March- and that's been about the average for the last year. Their claim of "over 850k" passed in the IFN (Irish Fibre Network) program doesn't seem to tally with the figures from last quarter (797k); perhaps they've re-categorised some previous rural deployment as urban. It's also difficult to know how much of the new-build market they're winning and have included in their current figures. Anyway…

At current rate of progress they'd need another 46 months from March 2024 to get to the target 1.9M FTTH - i.e January 2028. Whether it's the same 1.9M premises is anyone's guess.