Ms Niamh Cullen O'Reilly:

That is where we see fixed wireless access as the answer. Mr. Carvalho referred to 5G coming on stream. We are seeing it go live. There are test sites. If we go back to 2010 when I first heard of the national broadband plan, it was awarded to the network operator Three. At the time the State and European Union funded antennae that were connected to the routers. This was rolled out for a couple of years. We can imagine how far the infrastructure has come in the past ten or 11 years. I see it in real time. The level of 4G coverage throughout Ireland today cannot be compared with what it was two years ago. Continuous strides are being made.

Fixed wireless access taps into this existing infrastructure. It does give the flexibility. For example, I spoke to a customer yesterday. This is a real life example. He and his family go to their summer home at weekends but because of remote working they are spending more time there. They have an antenna in their home and they have a router they take with them to the summer home where they also have an antenna. They have one service that they are able to move from Cork city to west Cork and they can work in both locations uncompromised. Fixed wireless access has this freedom and flexibility.

As Mr. Carvalho stated, it can be a long-term solution as 4G and, in particular, 5G roll out. It will be a significant part of the future of telecommunications and will continue getting stronger and better.