The Intervention Area is a collective of geographical regions where a high speed reliable broadband service is not offered by commercial operators. Consequently the State has contracted National Broadband Ireland (NBI) to build a high speed fibre network in the Intervention Area as part of the National Broadband Plan. The NBP contract commenced in January 2020 and to date approximately €42m has been paid to NBI under that contract. NBI will provide a wholesale broadband service over its network, which will allow a wide variety of retail service providers to sell services to households and businesses in the intervention area.