Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 February 2022
72. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his Department has costings or projected figures for the additional cost of the National Broadband Plan as a result of the poor infrastructure of the existing network (details supplied); if additional costs attributable to this will be met solely by the State or the winning tenderer for the plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10359/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder State Aid Guidelines, Member States are required to use existing infrastructure to the maximum extent possible when rolling out high speed broadband networks. The NBP network is, therefore, being constructed through the use of existing telecoms infrastructure where possible and the construction of new infrastructure where necessary. National Broadband Ireland is using infrastructure assets including the eir network, ESB assets and the State owned Metropolitan Area Networks. The NBP network build involves the use of poles, ducts and exchanges and NBI has entered into infrastructure access agreements with the relevant entities. NBI will be utilising over 1.5 million poles and over 15,000 kilometres of duct networks.As part of the rental agreements, eir and enet are fully responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of infrastructure in use by NBI. The full cost of this is included in the annual rental charges to NBI. In the case of eir, the pole and duct infrastructure is fully regulated by ComReg who oversee the appropriate recovery of costs through the rental charges set by eir.While the aggregate annual rental to be paid by NBI to eir could be in order of €20m - €30m per annum once the network is fully deployed, the actual annual cost of using the existing infrastructure will not be known until the network is built and a full inventory of all poles and ducts in use by NBI is known. The final costs will also be dependent on reviews by ComReg which generally take place every five years and which can result in rental prices being either increased or reduced.The current rural network has been in place for many years and it was anticipated that some remediation work would be needed. In some areas, the extent of the remediation work is greater than was originally envisaged. NBI has concluded a service level agreement with openeir with respect to the remediation of poles and ducts as part of the “make ready” programme. The subsidy for the 25 year period of the NBP is capped at €2.7 billion, made up of the base subsidy of €2.1bn, a further amount of €480m of contingency subsidy that can be claimed in specified circumstances, plus VAT. While the contract provides for circumstances where costs savings revert to the State and the State also stands to share in future profits, National Broadband Ireland carries the full risk for any areas of cost over run, as the State subsidy is capped under the contract.
