Mr. Peter Evans:

I am grateful for the invitation to speak with the committee on the national broadband plan and related matters. I am director of wholesale for BT Ireland, and I am joined by my colleague, John O'Dwyer, head of regulation at BT Ireland.

BT is the main alternative provider of fixed line communications services in Ireland, employing more than 650 professionals throughout the country. With a global network in 198 countries, our expertise lies in building and managing complex communications solutions for multinationals, public sector organisations and large domestic businesses. We are Europe’s largest telecoms services wholesaler by revenue and market share, serving more than 50 Irish communication providers, including Sky Ireland and Three. We have invested heavily in building a high-capacity fibre network with nationwide reach, supported by sophisticated IT platforms and an expert in-house team. We are in our 20th year of organising the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, Ireland’s flagship science and technology platform for primary and secondary school students.

Our formal involvement to date with the national broadband plan, NBP, has been relatively limited so I will comment briefly on this before focusing primarily on our perspective on the opportunity presented by the metropolitan area networks, MANs, to improve broadband service provision throughout Ireland.

On the national broadband plan, as mentioned, BT Ireland provides national and international business, IT and communications services to corporate and public sector customers, alongside wholesale voice and broadband services to fixed and mobile telecommunications companies. We considered entering the NBP bid process to roll out broadband access but we found that our business was better aligned with providing wholesale backhaul facilities and connectivity to service providers. BT Ireland, therefore, offered to be a subcontractor to the Gigabit Fibre bid, which ultimately did not proceed past the pre-qualification questionnaire stage. BT Ireland considers that high-speed connectivity to every home and business is an essential goal for Ireland, and one we actively support.

The metropolitan area networks were established using EU state aid to overcome limitations in the supply of fibre for entrant operators to invest into 94 provincial towns, such as Tralee, Wexford and Sligo. The conditions of state aid approval sought to ensure that the MANs achieved the aim of stimulating investment and competition in regional areas on an open and transparent basis for all users of the MANs, for example, network operators such as ourselves which provide services directly or indirectly to homes and businesses. We believe there is a considerable opportunity for some relatively straightforward enhancements to how the MANs are operated and monitored today. Such enhancements could include the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment requesting the support of ComReg in the governance of the contractual obligations of the MANs managed services entity, MSE. In doing so, we believe it is possible to ensure that its original purpose - equitable, open and transparent operation for all operators - is preserved, and will encourage further investment for more consumer-friendly solutions to homes and business throughout these provincial regions.

I thank the Chairman for this opportunity to speak to the committee. My colleague and I would be happy to provide the committee with further information or to support it with any query members might have.