Mr. Peter McCarthy:

I thank the committee for the invitation to attend this session. I am the group CEO of Enet. I am accompanied today by Mr. David Eyre, chief commercial officer, and Ms Claire Murphy, general counsel and company secretary. As we have mentioned in our briefing materials, our entire leadership team is relatively new to Enet but we are here today to support the committee’s work to the best of our ability.

The invitation to attend this session is designed to support the examination of matters related to the national broadband plan, NBP. As such, we intend to outline our role in the NBP project. While Enet, as a sub-contractor to the bidder, NBI, is subject to confidentiality regarding aspects of the plan, we will do our best to address the questions posed to us. I would also like to take the opportunity to highlight Enet's operation of the metropolitan area networks, MANs, which is a State asset.

Our company is based in Limerick, has staff of nearly 115 people and operates the largest alternative wholesale telecoms network in Ireland. It operates over 5,400 km of fibre infrastructure, including the Irish state’s metropolitan area networks – known generally as the MANs - and proprietary metro networks, a unique backhaul infrastructure and one of the largest licensed wireless networks in the country. As it stands, Enet operates the MANs in 94 cities and towns across Ireland, operates over 3,700 km of backhaul fibre along the Irish Rail network and has access to Bord Gais and ESBT fibre, as well as access to Waterway Ireland’s fibre.

Enet’s operations are at the very heart of Irish telecoms. Our customers - almost 70 in total - some of which are the country’s largest service providers, use our services to systematically improve their retail services and to bring high-quality broadband to more than one million end users throughout Ireland.

Enet’s shareholder is the Irish Infrastructure Fund, IIF, which now owns 100% of the business. The IIF invests capital for 28 institutional investors, 25 of which are Irish pension funds including university trusts, union pensions, religious orders, construction worker pensions, pensions from a number of Irish companies, as well as Government bodies. It has been stated previously that ISIF is one of the investors in IIF. The fund purchased a 78% stake in Enet from Granahan McCourt, GMC, in July 2017. The IIF subsequently agreed terms to acquire the remaining 22% in September 2018. This transaction closed on 5 December 2018, and included the resignation of the GMC representative directors, effectively ending the GMC involvement in Enet. Today the primary board of Enet has three board directors nominated by the IIF.

In December 2015, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment launched its NBP procurement process. At that time, Enet’s shareholder, Granahan McCourt, developed a consortium to participate in the tender process. In March 2016, the consortium lodged its pre-qualifying questionnaire, PQQ. At this stage and throughout, Granahan McCourt was formally the lead bidder, and Enet’s envisaged role was that of a key subcontractor. In September 2018, the final PQQ was lodged. At this point, Enet’s role remained unchanged and we were reaffirmed as a key subcontractor. Neither Enet or its shareholder, IIF, are directors, shareholders or direct advisers to the consortium.

We do acknowledge that, for most of the procurement process, the consortium was described as Enet-led. At the commencement of the process, Granahan McCourt had control of Enet, both as a shareholder and with its chairman. David McCourt referenced this in a Newstalk interview with Pat Kenny in October 2018 when discussing the consortium name, when he stated, "it was called Enet because at the time I owned Enet and I was running Enet and it was a convenient name to call it."

As regards the MANs, they were implemented by Government in response to market failure and the need to provide high-speed, open-access broadband networks in regional towns and cities. Following an open tender process, Enet was appointed in 2004 to manage the 28 phase 1 MANs. In 2009, following a further open tender process, Enet was appointed to manage the 60 phase 2 MANs. Ownership of the 88 MANs remains with the State. To date, Enet has made revenue share payments to the State in excess of €8.8 million and has also made MAN-related infrastructure investments totalling €31 million, with that value residing with the State. From Enet’s review of the policy deliverables which we have detailed in our briefing materials already provided to the committee, we believe that both the MANs and our operation of same has delivered in excess of the anticipated policy outcomes.

Our role has been about value creation for the State. It has supported balanced geographical foreign direct investment, reduced costs to customers and enhanced State assets. This has been acknowledged by a number of Ministers and public servants over the years. No business is perfect. People come and go, processes fail, markets go up and down but, most important, we always seek to improve what we do and to do so with professionalism and integrity. With Irish pension money as the foundation of our shareholding today, and with close to 115 people directly employed through our business and hundreds more indirectly providing services to us, our primary focus is on improving everything we do to deliver the high standard of service required in the market place today.