Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
161. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the current milestones related the delivery of the National Broadband Plan for which the failure to meet would result in penalties being applied to National Broadband Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41723/22]
View answerThe National Broadband Plan (NBP) contract with National Broadband Ireland (NBI) contains a number of targets and milestones to be completed by NBI in order to deliver the rollout of high-speed broadband services to all premises in the Intervention Area by the end of 2026.
NBI is entitled to claim the payment of relevant subsidy only when contract targets and milestones have been achieved and independently verified. Subsidy payments are therefore held until NBI meets these milestones. Failure to meet these milestones has financial impacts for NBI as the company is not able to draw down subsidy.
The sanctions regime, which came into effect from the start of Contract Year 3 on 1 February 2022, relates to performance levels that NBI is required to meet for both the connection of premises and the operational performance of the network.Under an Updated Interim Remedial Plan (UIRP) for 2022 concluded between NBI and my Department, a revised target was agreed of 102,000 premises passed by the end of Contract Year 3, i.e. 31 January 2023. The contract provides that sanction provisions relating to delays to delivery of the network are applicable to any delays that occur from 1 February 2022 and will be calculated and imposed in line with the contract and the UIRP.
Sanctions around Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relating to operational performance levels of NBI, including time to connect premises, minimum upload and download speeds and performance around fault repair are also part of the contract. Should NBI’s performance not be in accordance with the requirements contained within the NBP contract, performance points and consequently performance credits will accrue which will reduce the value of subsidy payments received by NBI.
