National Broadband Ireland : implementation and progress

Connectivity and Communications Delivery

 An additional 80,000 to 85,000 premises will be passed by end 2023 as part of the National Broadband Plan bringing the total to between 180,000 and 185,000 by end 2023;

The implementation of the Plan has passed 75,000 households, with funding of €217.5 million allocated in 2023 to reach a target of up to 185,000 households by the end of next year.

Mr. Peter Hendrick: We have a request in with Eir for self-install duct. Eir is currently engaged with the regulator on that. It is predominantly about the integrity of its network and the cost of repair. At the moment, that is in front of the courts with the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg, and we hope there will be a ruling in July.

Once that ruling is positive, it means we would look to bring that forward with Eir where we can start installing our own sub-duct where we are less dependent-----

Chairman: Is Eir doing that submission to the regulator in partnership with NBI?

Mr. Peter Hendrick: There is a product in the market today but it would not be something that NBI can use because it does not allow us to repair the duct. It would allow us to install a sub-duct-----

Chairman: In terms of NBI's discussions with Eir and the self-install, is NBI at a point where Eir is agreeable to allow NBI to do it subject to------

Mr. Peter Hendrick: Not at the moment. At the moment, Eir is going through this with ComReg in the courts around Eir trying to protect the integrity of its network. This is a product and service that is available in almost all European jurisdictions, including the UK, as operators are allowed to put sub-ducts into existing passive incumbent networks and repair any blockages that are in that duct. Therefore, once we have access to that product or service, it means we can bring forward some of those contractors.

Chairman: Is ComReg taking Eir to court on that?

Mr. Peter Hendrick: Eir is defending in court against the product due to protecting the integrity of its network and the cost of repairing the duct and who pays for that.

Chairman: The regulator is supportive of what NBI is proposing.

Chairman: If that came to pass, would it speed up the roll-out significantly?

Mr. Peter Hendrick: I will let Mr. Malone give the details.

Mr. T.J. Malone: Yes, it would increase it. It definitely would increase it at a fair clip if we got it done. The key to this is that the quicker we get it implemented, the quicker we can actually speed up. The longer it takes to get a product into the market and-----

Chairman: If the courts find in ComReg's favour, is Eir then required to do a deal with NBI on that self-install?

Mr. T.J. Malone: The way it works is that we have made a request to Eir for ourselves. We believe our request is slightly separate to what is going on in the court at the moment and that they are unrelated matters. We made a request to Eir on that basis. ComReg backed it up and said that it is an unrelated matter and, therefore, Eir should engage with us. Eir feels it could prejudice its case. The case is only a matter of weeks away so Eir is holding off until it sees the direction of travel as to where that case goes.

Once that case is held and we see some direction of travel, our view would be that it could go two ways on this. We would like to engage with Eir and develop a product under our existing major infrastructure programme, MIP, agreement. It would speed things up if we could do it under that particular MIP. If that does not work and we have to apply through a regulated access product as it would go, it could take anywhere between 12 and 18 months before we would actually have a product that was available for us to speed up the programme. Therefore, while the direction of travel-----

Chairman: NBI would have to apply to the regulator for that product.

Mr. T.J. Malone: We would have to apply to Eir, which then goes through the regulator. From what we have seen from the regulator so far, ComReg would be in favour of us getting a product and believes that we are------

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú: I imagine the reason for the court case is that Eir does not really want to deliver this to the NBI.

Mr. T.J. Malone: Not necessarily. We are not part of the existing proceedings that are there. It is nothing to do with us and it is a separate but related area.

There is then a possibility that there will be people in black-spot urban areas who do not have broadband at a time when we will have reached 100% coverage under the national broadband plan. That plan is designed in such a way that providers must complete an area in full before they get their payment. They cannot leave anybody out, which is in marked contrast to what is happening in commercial areas, where a commercial operator could be providing fibre broadband on a street and then reach a point where the last person on that street is rather hard to provide for, and that operator just turns the truck around and connects up somebody who is a little easier. What such operators are doing as a result of this is leaving little black spots all around our urban areas, towns, villages and cities. I want to send a signal today to the fixed broadband and fibre broadband suppliers that if they do this, they will find at a later time that they will be required to go back to those places, at great expense, and connect those people who were left out. It is not a sensible long-term policy or strategy for those companies to find themselves at a point where they are legally required to go back to connect up those customers they left out because they thought it was in their short-term interest on that day to leave the last person at the end of the cul-de-sac disconnected from their network. I strongly advise anybody who is deploying fibre broadband not to leave streets and areas with little black spots that they will have to come back to complete in the same way we would not paint a wall and leave holes in it for the next day. That is my message to the broadband companies today.