Mr. Patrick Neary:

With regard to 5G, the procurement did not specify a technology at the outset. It invited bidders to come forward with what they felt was the most suitable technology. We did not specify a fibre to the home technology in the procurement. The most efficient and economical way to do this project was examined and all the bidders that participated in the process concluded that fibre to the home was the best way to do it. Alternative solutions such as wireless or 5G were certainly considered. We modelled that in terms of mixing different technologies, perhaps using wireless in certain instances and fibre in others. There are challenges in many technologies. On the 5G side, it would require thousands of new masts to be built around the country to reach all premises. That is a challenge for the deployment. Those sites would also have to be maintained and there would be rental costs for them over the full 25 or 35 years. Obviously, 5G will turn into 6G, 7G or 8G over the long term so technology upgrades would be required as well on the wireless side. All technologies were considered and it was concluded that fibre to the home was the best one for this project.

The technical capacity and competencies of the bidder were evaluated as part of a substantial evaluation test, particularly in the final tender. We published the technical capabilities that we tested. They related to the technical solution itself, the products that were going to be produced and offered, the deployment solutions and the operational solution. An independent team was put together to evaluate those and the bidder passed the final tender evaluation.

Why is it seven years? The scope of the project involves a substantial ramp up period. In the first year the IT systems are put in place and service providers who will sell the service are brought on board so they can sell the services. Parallel with that the bidder will be doing detailed designs. That involves people going down every road and boreen in the countryside to identify what existing infrastructure can or cannot be reused and then producing a low level design that is the optimum design for the location. That is the first effort involved. That leads to an order to be placed to Eir to remediate its infrastructure if that is the infrastructure that will be used. That is substantial work in itself. Parallel with that the bidder would do other preparatory activities such as tree trimming, brackets on poles and so on before it starts laying the fibre. In addition, it is looking at the local authority applications for licences if it needs to carry out any road closures or digs for broken ducts and the like.

All these tasks and issues came to the fore through the dialogue with the bidders. The rate of throughput that can be achieved by Eir in preparing its networks, the local authority applications and the subcontractors came together in the final tender submission from the bidder last year. In that process it had to demonstrate that its plan was credible and could be achieved. The outcome was that it could do this within a seven-year period. There are opportunities and there are certainly attempts to bring that timeline forward, in particular working with Eir to see if it can make its network ready earlier so the NBI contractor can roll out its fibre earlier. Through the work of the mobile telephone and broadband task force, we are working with the local authorities on ensuring they are ready for the applications that will go to them through the broadband officers who are now in place. There are attempts to bring that seven-year period forward and there is a commercial imperative as well to do it as quickly as possible.