THE COST to the State of delivering high-speed broadband across Ireland could be significantly less than the €2.5 billion figure quoted in a recent telecoms industry report, BT has said.

A document prepared last year for the Telecommunications and Internet Federation, a telecoms industry lobby group, put the cost of building a national next-generation access broadband network at close to €2.5 billion. It also claimed the industry would need 20 years of revenue to repay this cost.

BT is investing in fibre-optic cabling to upgrade Northern Ireland’s broadband network to speeds of 40Mbit/s by the end of 2012, as part of its overall £2.5 billion fibre roll-out in the UK.

BT Ireland’s strategy director Peter Evans said the contribution from public funds was a fraction of the total, and applying a similar process in the Republic could save taxpayers’ money. “The message for the Government is, you can do it a lot cheaper than the €2.5 billion that has been bandied around,” he said.

Fine Gael and Labour’s plans for providing next-generation access broadband in Ireland envisage joint investment by the State and by telecoms providers.

Mr Evans urged the new Government to consider the “gap funding” model that was used to finance Northern Ireland’s broadband project. This involved public finances being used to meet the difference between a telecoms provider’s long-term network investment and the extra cost involved in bringing those plans forward so they happen sooner.

“If you look at the comparable figures in the North, the contribution from the public purse was less than €100 million. With three to four times the landmass in the South, you’re probably talking about less than half a billion euro of public money that would be needed,” Mr Evans said.

The total cost to upgrade the Republic’s broadband network could also be less than the €2.5 billion suggested by the Telecommunications and Internet Federation, he added. This could be achieved given the fall in construction costs, and by using technologies like high-speed wireless networks in areas where it is not practical to lay fibre-optic cables.

Any company that wins the tender to build the network would be obliged to let other telecoms operators use it. Mr Evans said BT had no consumer business in the Republic to protect, having sold its retail telecoms business to Vodafone in 2009 to focus on wholesale telecoms services and sales to the corporate market.

BT, which announced increased operating profits last week, has funds available for upgrading its network, Mr Evans confirmed.