National Broadband Plan rollout ‘showing real momentum’, says NBI chief

The State’s heavily-subsidised national broadband network is now available in parts of every county in the Republic, following the latest connections in Co Longford, the company behind the rollout announced on Sunday.

National Broadband Ireland (NBI) said a total of 27,148 premises – including homes, farms, businesses and community facilities – now have guaranteed access to minimum broadband speeds of 500Mb through connection to NBI fibre.

When the contract was awarded in November 2019, the total capped subsidy, including contingency and VAT, was €2.9 billion. As a result of a ruling by the Revenue Commissioners on VAT, the total cost is now capped at €2.7 billion.

It is estimated the total cost of the project to connect 1.1 million people, 65,000 farms, 44,000 small businesses and 679 schools will be in the order of €5.5 billion.

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In its announcement and progress update on Sunday NBI said:

• 31,645 connections have been ordered by customers, with 27,148 connected
• Work has commenced to serve 245,533 premises, or some 44 percent of the company’s target area
• 117,179 premises may now order or pre-order
• 102,888 premises are ready to connect

NBI chief executive Peter Hendrick said its rollout was now “showing real momentum” .

His comments follow criticism from a number of quarters, not least the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC). In a report on the project, published in April, the PAC criticised the fact that earlier targets had not been met. It also raised concerns about expenditure on consultants and said taxpayers may not be getting value for money.

Under EU rules for State subsidies, NBI may offer its service in areas defined as “intervention areas” where no commercial provider was offering services when the contracts were signed.

However, while NBI is prevented from offering services in areas where there are commercial operators, mostly urban areas and their fringes, there is nothing to stop commercial operators from moving into NBI’s generally more rural, intervention areas.

Over the last three years there has been significant encroachment in NBI’s target area with numerous companies offering service above the Department of Communication’s definition of “high speed” as being consistently above 30Mbps.

John Rooney, chief executive of Imagine.ie which claims to offer speeds of up to 150Mbps, said the organisation was “extremely proud” to have built an extensive network over the past three years “with the opportunity to connect 1.2 million homes and businesses, of which over 380,000 are classified as amber [the intervention area] on the National Broadband Ireland plan”.

Other companies are also offering services intervention area, without subsidies. US entrepreneur Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite offering claims to have the entire country, its offshore islands and surrounding seas covered for connection to high-speed broadband.

However, while a number of companies are now encroaching into NBI’s target area, NBI has maintained that the National Broadband Plan offers a superior service, with offerings up to 10GB and minimum speeds of 500MB, a factor which it believes will win customers from other operators over time.