Ms Carolan Lennon:

No. As I have pointed out, the differences are the higher SLA to which NBI has signed up to for rural areas, the lower connection charge, and the differentiated pricing. If we kept the machine we have used to connect the 300,000 going and kept rolling with all the same connection costs, SLAs and so forth, we could do this for less than €1 billion. That is not the procurement model in place today, however, which requires much higher SLAs, lower connection costs and lower pricing.

When all those, as well as a new wholesale team, are factored in, it drives the cost and complexity, and that is when it starts to get nearer to €3 billion.