Mr. Fergal Mulligan:

I will explain the service provision, which is the most important aspect from an end-user perspective. When Claremorris, Ballinrobe and Liscarney are all connected then we call them the premises passed. The first thing that the NBI must confirm to us is that they are all passed and we can guarantee the 500 Mb service in that ring and within the polygons there. It is only after the NBI prove that to us that it will get the subsidy under the national broadband contract. After that it is entirely up to the consumers and businesses whether they want the service from NBI. Under the contract, once they order the service then the NBI must connect them within a certain number of days or weeks, depending on the connection.

As we know, the NBI is only a wholesale network. So some of the 33 retail service providers will sell services in the areas but that depends on the geography. For example, Westnet in the west of Ireland is a local small retail service provider. It is contracted now to offer services over the NBI network and it will offer services to its existing customers and new customers located around Claremorris and those areas. Similarly, if one goes to Cork, certain operators only operate out of Cork or Limerick so on and so forth. National providers such as Sky, Vodafone, Eir, Three and Virgin Media also will sell services. Heretofore, the consumers in these areas may have had the option of using one to three retail broadband providers, which is the most that is available in many rural areas. In the next few years as this initiative is rolled out consumers can avail of a plethora of retail providers that will offer not only broadband but television and landline buy services, which can also be delivered over fibre and security systems. Mobile service companies will probably also bundle mobile services.

From the point of view of consumer choice and value for money, in the coming years consumers in rural areas will be given the same choice and options enjoyed by people who live in Dublin, Cork or Limerick where they can walk into a shop or ring an operator and ask for all of its four services to be put on the one bill. People will probably save a lot of money monthly by doing so because currently in rural Ireland people probably pay separately for a television service, a broadband service, a mobile phone and a landline with Eircom. These are the benefits that will accrue as this initiative is rolled out around the network. Not only will there be greater speeds and quality of service, there will be an absolute 24-7 guaranteed service with videos and everything else. The choice in terms of television and mobiles will spread out in terms of consumers and competition. The initiative will grow a ubiquitous national network where everybody and every network can sell services whether one lives on an island or on the west or east coasts. That is the ambition and objective within the next five to seven years.