Mr. Fergal Mulligan:

Regarding retail service providers and our control over pricing, we control the wholesale price of NBI, which, as said, will probably be in the order of €30 per month. We will have 33 retailers that will sell to anyone who wants the product in an intervention area. The packages will be the same as those available in urban areas. The price control is effectively achieved by a cap on the wholesale price, on which retailers will make their margin. It is very heavily controlled. The wholesale price is pegged to the regulated price of Eircom. Effectively, ComReg does a lot of work on determining the price Eircom should charge and an affordable price, and then we say to NBI that it can charge no more than that. Then Sky, Vodafone and all the rest of them can say that they can sell what they would sell in Dublin everywhere in Ireland. Generally, retail companies do not differentiate between one area and another; they just want a blanket approach. They want to sell their television package, such as Sky Sports, across the country. The want to advertise just one price nationally. That is what will happen when the network is fully rolled out but, of course, all the large and small operators will be looking at the areas bit by bit and will probably be doing local advertising before national advertising. From that point of view, there is tight control.

The other main point, which is more important, is that we have very tight control over what people are charged to get a connection. NBI is required under the contract to provide a connection to every home. It does not have a choice, and it can only charge a maximum of €100. Most retailers, or some, may charge nothing while others pass on the charge to the consumer. This is important because the challenge we have seen with fixed networks, including Eircom and Virgin Media, is that getting into the home is very difficult. It can be very costly. There is no contract with the providers to make sure the consumer gets a connection. Sometimes a company such as Virgin Media, Eircom or another might say it is just too expensive to connect the customer. In that instance, NBI and the national broadband plan step in. If a customer cannot get a reliable high-speed broadband connection from a commercial company, that customer should be amber on our map. If the location is blue on the map and the customer cannot get a connection, that is something we are not aware of, provided it is not above 30 Mb. If one can get above 30 Mb, one is in a blue area, as long as one can get the connection at a reasonable price or one is willing to pay a lot of money for it. Some might do that. We have a lot of control in the contract in this area.

The splitting of villages, which Deputy Naughten mentioned, is an ongoing issue. Eir, ComReg and NBI have been in and a constant theme has concerned premises right beside those in the blue areas. Deputy Ó Laoghaire said that somebody might be able to get 100 Mb or 1,000 Mb while somebody across the ditch may not be able to get anything. It is asked why the fibre is not going all the way. The answer is that Eircom has built the network and a network design whereby the service just stops at a certain point and cannot go any further. It has been asked over the past four or five years by many stakeholders whether it can go a bit farther. In the majority of cases, if not all, Eircom has said it just cannot. I believe Ms Carolan Lennon, managing director of Eircom, was before the committee and said it is the responsibility of NBI to connect the affected customers. The problem is that there is a big time gap before the person who does not have the service is connected. It just keeps coming back to the issue of our needing to get the information out better. Those in blue areas probably should get the service quicker. As is evident on the map Mr. Neary showed members, the fibre will be going past the people in blue areas in Claremorris to those in adjoining amber areas so they should be getting a fibre connection quicker than people over in Liscarney or Maam, for example. Someone in Ballinrobe will probably get connected quicker because the service is coming out from Claremorris.

With regard to Eir and its telephone line, all we can say is that we will bring the issue back to the Department. We will let ComReg and Eircom know the question has been asked and ask them to update the committee.

On the question on who will own the infrastructure, NBI will own the fibre cable on Eircom's infrastructure and on the Enet metropolitan area network. MANs are owned by the State. The Eircom infrastructure – poles and ducts – are owned by Eir. If we use the ESB, it owns the poles and ducts, and we are funding NBI to put the cables on that infrastructure. It will own that cable in 25 years and it will own the business of NBI. On the protections we have in that regard, the State will recoup 60% of any excess profits NBI earns over the next 25 years. When there is a valuation of the company in 25 years, the State will get 40% the value back. Therefore, there are, over 25 years, clawbacks that could see money coming back to the State from the moneys spent initially on the network. If it is a very profitable enterprise and is worth money at the end, the clawback provisions in the contract will apply. There may be no money or there may be a lot. We do not know, obviously. It is like looking into a crystal ball at this stage. It will depend on how successful the company is. It will own the cable network and it will own the business.